Former nurse appointed as substantive Director of People and Organisational Development

The Trust has appointed experienced human resources leader and former nurse Darren Skinner as its substantive Director of People and Organisational Development.

Darren SkinnerDarren came to the Trust from NHS Blood and Transplant as an interim director in May 2021. Since then, he has overseen the development and publication of the Trust’s People Plan and put additional resource and capacity into our workforce teams to enable them to deliver it.

Dr Sara Munro, Chief Executive of Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve appointed Darren into this crucial role following a rigorous and competitive process.

“Darren has a wealth of experience, knowledge and skills in his profession which he has put to excellent use whilst working with us in an interim capacity over the last year.

“He’s proven himself to be a valued member of the executive team, championing staff wellbeing, equality and inclusion at senior level. He’s also inspired his colleagues to develop our People Plan – a powerful workforce strategic plan that was created at a time of huge uncertainty.

“The Board and I are looking forward to Darren and his team delivering on the People Plan and continuing this great work to make our Trust an employer of choice.”

More about Darren

Darren Skinner is an experienced senior HR leader with a wealth of experience working across a range of public sector organisations.

He started his career as a nurse, working in adult intensive care and later in neonatal and paediatric intensive care at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. He was an active and experienced local Royal College of Nursing (RCN) representative and went on to work for the RCN as a Regional Officer, covering healthcare across North London before embarking on his HR career.

As a senior HR practitioner, he worked at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust – leading an employment relations team before going on to work for the City of London Police (ultimately as HR Director) followed by the British Transport Police.

He then worked with the Government of Jersey as an Interim HR Director for the Health and Community Services department, supporting a significant change programme and the development of the ‘Jersey Care Model’, as well as advising the Minister for Health and Social Services on workforce and HR policy related issues.

Before taking up the role at LYPFT, Darren’s most recent assignment was a significant staff engagement project with NHS Blood and Transplant.