Claire Gooday
Director of Organisational Development and Corporate Services
Claire became our Director of OD and Corporate Services in November 2022 and is responsible for HR, OD and EDI, Governance and Estates, and Communications and Engagement. Prior to this she worked at Director level for a number of years, including at NEL CSU as Director of People and subsequently Director of Corporate Services.
Claire has over 20 years of experience in the NHS and higher education sectors, including five years at the University of Cambridge in HR as well as in Primary Care Trusts and a number of NHS commissioning organisations. She is an HR and OD professional by background and has extensive experience in managing complex transformational change across the NHS.
In her career to date, Claire has successfully led many internal and external complex change programmes, including the harmonisation of policies and production of job families and job descriptions within NHS England. She also led NEL CSU’s mergers with Southeast, Anglia, and Central Eastern CSUs as well as the disaggregation of NEL CSU its 1600 employees into a London Shared Service (NHSE) and NECS, including the transfer of staff and services to nine receiver organisations.
In her role as Director of Corporate Services for NEL CSU, Claire was responsible for the estates strategy, removing £6m of costs out of the estates footprint and developing new ways of working for the organisation. She also led IG and FOI, including the successful migration of data following the disaggregation of NEL CSU to receiver organisations, and led the business resilience and continuity teams.
Claire is a highly adaptable, resilient, people-focussed strategic leader. She has excellent communication and stakeholder management skills and her specialist areas include transformation and change management, HR, OD and culture, diversity and inclusion and communications and engagement. Her goal is to make NECS a diverse and inclusive organisation where people have a voice and a say in the direction of the organisation.
Claire said: “Great people are at the heart of what we do. My aspiration is to recruit, retain and develop the best talent for NECS, and ensure everyone feels happy, supported, and fulfilled at work. By developing your career with us you can help improve and transform health and care for people across the UK – and that’s just one of the reasons why our people feel so passionately about our organisation and enjoy being part of our team.”