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During his time with us Mark quickly developed good working relationships with the Trust Board and Executive Directors and most importantly with staff side colleagues. Mark introduced systems and processes including a workforce dashboard into the HR department which allowed the Trust Board and the organisation to better understand the key elements of workforce metrics and to begin to address areas of concern. Mark was particularly helpful in supporting members of the Executive who were not appointed as a result of the reorganisation. Mark worked extremely hard with these individuals and key external partners to ensure that the process was as efficient and effective as possible whilst still allowing the individuals to exit from the organisation with dignity and a sense of personal worth. In addition Mark was key to helping us re-establish a good working relationship with staff side colleagues. This involved frequent meetings and an open and engaging manner which allowed trust and confidence in management to be restored. Mark’s standing with the unions was so high that they asked if he could be retained for a period of handover to the new HR Director as they did not want to lose the momentum which had been gained during his time with the Trust. Mark was able to hit the ground running and did not appear to be fazed by any of the issues and problems which he had to deal with. On a personal note I found Mark to be invaluable in supporting me as a new Chief Executive within a challenged organisation. His wise counsel and advice certainly made my role much more achievable and I would whole heartedly recommend him to others particularly those in similar circumstances.

I initially employed Mark as a young divisional manager in 1997 at North Herts, he was outstanding then. He was my interim HRD at Chelsea & Westminster – he is skilful, can do difficult things, has the right kind of personality to do tricky tasks but also aided by understanding the wider environment – he’s not just HR.’ He doesn’t shy away from tasks and was an inspiration to his HR team. He works well with Boards as he speaks as an equal. He will listen, say when he doesn’t know, and will argue his case. He understands things strategically and is forthright. There are weak people in HR – Mark is not one of them.

After a large hidden deficit emerged at the Trust and NHS Improvement allowed us the chance to manage the Turnaround internally, we sought some support from a “proper” Turnaround Director and Steve was selected from a long list as he stood out for his experience and right level of support and challenge. Steve has acted as a mentor for me personally and is always a source of wise advice. Kingsgate and Dearden HR as companies have worked with us over the last year to deliver a really successful CIP programme and their work on our Medical Productivity Work Stream in particular has been excellent. The team are knowledgeable, pragmatic and can do; I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone needing expert support with savings plan and especially to work with medical staff as their understanding of job planning, service design and demand and capacity planning has been exemplary. What sets them apart from most consultancy firms is their knowledge and experience of the NHS, and their ability to build relationships with all staff groups and their ethical approach to working in the public sector.

Mark joined St Georges in December 2016 as HR Advisor to the Board during an incredibly difficult period where there was unrest and upheaval in the Trust. The Board and Executive Directors were all, in the main, interim after being rated inadequate by the CQC which as a result destabilised the Trust significantly, this echoed throughout the Trust and resulted in very low staff morale and affected confidence in the Executive Team. I met Mark after being appointed to the substantive post just after the Trust also went into Financial Special measures. During my time working with Mark it was clear that he had managed to keep the HR function in good shape and the department continued to operate in what was a very dysfunctional environment. I also know Mark was a great support to the Interim CEO and always gave good consistent advice in sometimes very difficult and challenging situations. Despite coming into an extremely difficult environment, Mark was able to hit the ground running and did not appear to be fazed by any issues or difficult problems which he had to deal with on a daily basis. On a personal level I have found Mark to be a great HR professional with sound advice.

I am pleased to highly recommend the services and support provided by Kingsgate and their partner Dearden HR. Personified through Steve Swayne, Kingsgate’s MD, the company provided us with excellent advice, support and delivery of specific parts of the Trust’s financial turnaround programme. Kingsgate provide an exceptional offer, combining the unusual attributes of highly experienced and credible personal service, backed up by a network of resources and expertise in specific areas, such as that provided by Dearden HR. Their approach is to rapidly and sustainably improve the situation and leave trusted staff enabled and empowered to continue the work without further support at the earliest realistic point. Their deep experience and proven methodologies cut to the chase in a way that engages staff quickly and effectively. I would confidently recommend both Kingsgate and Dearden HR for any similar requirement

Thank you so much for all the expert advice and wise guidance you have given to the Board and to me… I have greatly valued your many qualities.

Many thanks for all that you have done for the Trust; in a remarkable way you have managed to not only promote excellence within the Trust but also to enable us to compete and win HR competitions at the national level; in both the NHS and the wider business world. We will miss you.

Mark joined the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in November 2017 as HR Advisor to the Board. His work involved managing a small HR consultancy team covering the function of the Human Resources and Organisational Development Director, as well as focussing on radically improving certain key staffing metrics.Mark joined at an incredibly challenging time for the organisation which had been placed back into special measures by our regulator, NHS Improvement. This is the second time that the Trust had been in special measures over the last four years. One of the areas in which we were rated ‘Inadequate’ was in the Well Led domain and some of the challenges that we faced were around inadequate levels of mandatory training, appraisals, supervision and staffing levels. During the ten months that Mark spent with the Trust he had a major impact in galvanising the organisation to address these shortcomings, such that by the time he had left we were meeting the targets for appraisals and mandatory training, and he made significant improvements in levels of supervision and in our recruitment processes with time to hire being below target and below the national average.Mark exhibited a collegiate approach and a ‘can do’ attitude and succeeded in making improvements in the HR and OD function which had eluded the Trust over many years. He played a full part in the Executive Team and the Board. Mark was appropriately challenging. This had a significant impact on creating a much more functional Executive Team and a higher performing Board. Mark was at all times approachable and proactive in seeking to make the necessary improvements that were required.I have worked with many Interim Directors in a wide range of capacities and in the short time that Mark has worked with us he has shown himself to be the most effective Interim Director that I have worked with. He was able to achieve results by getting the HR function to think differently, and work more effectively and in partnership with the rest of the organisation. Mark is a results oriented team player that has absolutely delivered for NSFT during an especially challenging time.

The gender pay gap in regard to female consultants and Clinical Excellence Awards (CEA) has been of high priority in Berkshire Healthcare, and one that we as a trust felt was best investigated by an external and impartial organisation. As a result we engaged the services of Dearden HR and Juliette Stern. We are delighted that we did so. Juliette’s knowledge and sensitive approach to this issue won the confidence of the female consultants in the trust, resulting in a report with practical, achievable recommendations, which has the support of the Board here at Berkshire Healthcare. We have now put these recommendations into practice as part of our latest CEA round.

NSFT worked alongside Dearden to create and roll-out a culture change programme for the organisation that has been in Special Measures for a long time. The team worked with a steering group made up of staff from across the Trust to build, roll out and co-facilitate and engagement to enable us to go and listen to over 2000 colleagues, in 60 sessions over 5 months to understand how they felt and create the feedback to influence strategy and change. Alongside this, Dearden worked with us to facilitate our culture steering group, running skills sessions to build the confidence and capability and create meaningful outcomes. Dearden took the time to understand the unique challenges at NSFT, bringing wisdom and skill to the situation and adapting as the situation, and the brief, changed. I would not hesitate to use Dearden for future engagements – they were genuinely fantastic and added real value”.Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust 28th May 2019