Paul Leach

Spire Healthcare has been on an incredible transformational and cultural change journey since it was created in 2007. Formed through the sale of 25 BUPA Hospitals to European private equity firm Cinven, and the subsequent acquisition of an additional 12 hospitals, the commercial realities of how the HR and OD team needed to add value to the business immediately began to hit home. We are a people business, delivering service excellence, so the aim of keeping our people engaged is key to our success. Our senior leadership team understood the need to engage staff. It was essential we obtained data that detailed overall engagement scores and provided evidence of our capability to navigate change and understand our business. Ixia Consultancy was appointed to design our engagement survey, conduct employee focus groups and deliver feedback reports. Its jargon-free approach helped develop a clear communication strategy, emphasising the need for engagement across the business. Our OD strategy has been commercially focused. Data from our survey has helped us to shape our performance management approach and develop our values.