A Black Country NHS leader whose roles span a trio of Trusts has been shortlisted for a national award.

Alan Duffell is Group Chief People Officer covering The Royal Wolverhampton, Walsall Healthcare and the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trusts. 

He has been shortlisted for the Director of the Year accolade within the Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA) Excellence in People Awards 2023.  

The HPMA awards recognise and reward outstanding work in Healthcare, Human Resources, Organisational Development and Workforce Management. 

Alan, who has worked in the NHS for 21 years, said he had no idea he had even been nominated.

“I was completely oblivious to it all so I was genuinely surprised when I received an email to tell me I’d been shortlisted,” he said. “To my mind there are so many fantastic people across the NHS who are deserving of awards so the fact that my colleagues have put me forward makes me humbled and proud in equal measure. I look forward to the awards event now.”

The awards ceremony will be held in Leeds on Tuesday 19 September.

Alan’s first substantive Board role was back in 2008 at the Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust before he moved on to Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust and made Wolverhampton his third Board position.

He works across Wolverhampton, Walsall and Dudley Trusts in the Chief People Officer (CPO) role, which led to him changing his Twitter handle to @Alan3CPO which many now associate with the similarly named Star Wars character C3PO!

“I’m basically shared between the three and it means I get to work with a wide range of teams and colleagues which I love,” he added.