Karen Bloomfield – Head of Talent and Leadership Development
Karen has responsibility for working in partnership with the regional ICS Workforce leads to develop and establish a system talent management approach, enabling healthy talent pipelines and maximising retention. She aims to build on talent management approaches which are evidence-based and meet the needs of our local health and care workforce to support delivery of quality care and improved health outcomes. Karen’s role encompasses the establishment of the infrastructure to support this work e.g. Talent and Leadership Strategic forum and Talent Community of practice, together with activities to support increasing Board diversity representation and increasing numbers of staff who have the aspiration and potential for roles of increased breadth, depth or complexity at Director level and in essence succession planning for sustainability of critical roles. .
Karen has worked in the NHS since 1979,initially training as a general nurse, working as a senior nurse in Hertfordshire then workforce development roles and leading the national Midwifery recruitment and retention action plan. From 2011, she led the East of England Leadership academy and was successful nationally as ‘Leadership Development Champion of the year’. During this time, she ran programmes such as Aspirant Directors Development, Primary Care Collaboratives and Change Leaders. More recently Karen took up post as Head of Talent in 2019 focused on the delivery of a strategic approach for talent management, ensuring we meet the commitments of the NHS People plan and supporting staff at all levels to thrive, develop and enjoy a rewarding career in health and social care. During the pandemic Karen was deployed to and led the East of England Bring Back staff team regionally.
Karen is inspired by working with people to be the best version of themselves and gets a buzz from seeing colleagues have successful careers, supporting them through coaching and mentoring. Karen’s favourite quote is ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel’ by Maya Angelou.
Find Karen on Twitter at @karenbloomfiel1 and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-bloomfield-1960
Pat Cotton – Talent Lead
[email protected]
Pat’s work supports the development of strong talent pipelines, succession planning and career development across the region.
Pat is a nurse and midwife by background and has held senior clinical roles, particularly in midwifery. She passionately believes, and has seen first-hand, that when you have a team culture where everyone is included and where staff talents are nurtured and developed, everyone thrives, enabling us to deliver the best service to our staff and patients. This interest prompted moves into roles within practice development, leadership and organisational development at organisational and county level and across the region. Pat now feels privileged to be working and supporting talent across the east of England as Talent Lead.
Julie Dynes-Conner – Leadership Senior Manager
Julie has over 25 years working in the field of People and Organizational development.
Julie began her career as Psychology Lecturer in Essex before building a new NHS career shaping Leadership Development in Mental Health Services. From here she moved to the East of England Leadership Academy supporting Leadership Development across the region.
A qualified Executive Coach and NLP Practitioner Julie has a passion for seeing others grow, develop a better understanding of themselves and achieve positive outcomes.
She is currently undertaking a Doctoral programme in Organisational Psychology at Birkbeck University and has a special interest in psychological wellbeing in the workplace.
Hannah Morris – Talent and Leadership Manager
Hannah joined the East of England Talent and Leadership team in 2020, taking up the role of Project Manager. She is responsible for the management and delivery of programmes that support leadership
development and the long-term ambition of the NHS People Plan.
Hannah is passionate about supporting the delivery of high-quality care through developing and mobilising talent, and promoting an inclusive and compassionate culture, where staff feel valued and engaged. Hannah is a an MSP® Practitioner in Programme Management and joined the team following a career in healthcare research.
Ruth Davis – Talent and Leadership Co-ordinator
Ruth joined the East of England leadership team in 2017, providing support to the Inclusion, Talent Management and Graduate Management Training Scheme workstreams. In October 2020, Ruth was appointed as Inclusion Co-ordinator supporting positive action programmes and inclusive leadership development across the team. Ruth has a passion for promoting a compassionate, inclusive and enabling culture within the organisation and across the systems within the region. As a carer herself, she is particularly keen to raise awareness of the issues faced by working carers and is a member of the carers network. In April 2020, Ruth was appointed as one of the east of England EDI representatives, supporting the delivery of the regional EDI plan.
Ruth has a background in health and social care and has previously worked in education and training, as a social worker in older people’s mental health services, and as a long-term volunteer for a charity in India. She loves to travel and experience different cultures, and also to spend time at home reading, walking the dog and socialising with family and friends.