A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Zoe is currently the Director of Human Resources (HR) and Organisational Development (OD) at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, a position she has held since March 2017.
Passionate about creating the best possible workplace environment for colleagues, with an acute understanding of the direct impact this has on the delivery of high quality healthcare, Zoe is also the Joint Vice President of the East Midlands branch of the Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA) and the Co-Chair of the East Midlands Social Partnership Forum.
Originally from Bradford, Zoe’s early career included working in a range of HR, OD and learning and development roles in the private and legal sector. She has lived in South Yorkshire for more than 16 years, and began her career within the NHS working for Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in 2006.
Speaking about the appointment, Zoe said: “I’m really excited to be joining Team DBTH and hopefully making a difference to the nearly 7,000 colleagues who work across the organisations’ multiple sites. As we emerge from the pandemic, health professionals face a number of challenges, however there are also great opportunities to make things better for our teams, services, and crucially for our patients.
“I also believe it is important that we create the space required to meet the objectives and ambitions of the NHS People Plan. This means ensuring we value colleagues within the Trust, help them grow in their respective careers by nurturing and developing talent to secure the organisation’s long-term future, as well as ensuring that we promote diversity in all its forms. We have exciting and important work ahead of us, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals is made up of Doncaster Royal Infirmary, Bassetlaw Hospital and Montagu Hospital in addition to a number of external clinical sites. One of the largest providers within the region, the Trust cares for approximately 500,000 patients each and every year, spanning two counties which include both urban and rural communities.
Richard Parker OBE, Chief Executive at DBTH, said “On behalf of the Trust, I’m delighted to welcome Zoe to Team DBTH. I believe our new Chief People Officer has a wealth of experience working in Human Resources and organisational development in the NHS, and Zoe will bring significant expertise, insight and candour to the role, helping us in our ambition to become the safest trust in England, outstanding in all that we do.
“In recent years at DBTH we have made great strides to try to improve how we support our colleagues placing them, along with patients, at the heart of every decision we make. However we know that the pandemic has had a significant impact on our teams and services and we need to do all we can to support their development, resilience and overall health and wellbeing.
“I believe Zoe will help to support our recovery journey post pandemic, making DBTH both a great place to work and receive care.”
The Trust’s current Director of People and Organisational Development, Karen Barnard, will depart in mid-February for semi-retirement. Zoe will subsequently take up the post of Chief People Officer, which encompasses and replaces the former role, in early June.