Former NHS human resources manager Stephen Griffin is relishing his appointment as labour relations chief at the Royal College of Nursing. Mark Crail asked him about 'changing sides'

When one of the best-known and most respected human resource managers in the NHS effectively 'switched sides' last month to become a trade union official, the move raised eyebrows among his former colleagues.

But Stephen Griffin, now settling in to his new role as director of labour relations for the Royal College of Nursing, says that when he tells people what the job really involves, 'I think they get a bit envious'. And, he says: 'I haven't had to change my values and views in any significant way at all in starting this job. I think I am pursuing the same values as I did when I was a human resources director.'

He has joined the 310,000 strong union at a time of 'fascinating challenges'. The first ever NHS human resources strategy - on which he did some work before joining the RCN - will shortly emerge from the NHS Executive.

The time for this year's submission to the nurses' pay review body is approaching - it will be the first test of the tight new terms of reference set out by chancellor Gordon Brown following the comprehensive spending review.

And, in the medium term, moves are still under way to try to agree a new NHS pay system - a process around which the RCN, British Medical Association, Unison and other unions are circling warily (see News, page 3).

But, says Mr Griffin, the job has a broader reach than industrial relations. He is currently pondering whether 'employment directorate' might better describe how his department's work fits with the wider RCN agenda.

'I am also involved in the development of the Scottish Parliament and its implications for healthcare, as well as the Northern Ireland and Welsh assemblies, and there is an international dimension.'

Mr Griffin admits that a year ago - when he was HR director for the two big Leeds trusts which were then coming together in one of the NHS's biggest ever mergers - he had little idea that he might by now be an RCN official.

But when the merger took place, he did not get the post he wanted. 'I was obviously trying to land that job but it wasn't to be,' he says. 'I was a bit bewildered at the time, I don't mind admitting.'

Seconded to the NHS Executive, where he worked on the development of the new HR strategy and on pay proposals, he 'was in talks with a number of chief executives' about a possible job when he saw the RCN advertisement.

'If I had become an HR director again it would have been for something like the fifth time,' he says. 'It would not have offered the challenge that a job like this does. This was an opportunity to consider another career option.'

There are differences of opinion about the implications of Mr Griffin's unconventional career move so soon after he was involved in developing central management strategies.

'They were spitting blood at the Executive,' says one senior union official.

'I don't think that's true,' says an HR director. 'But Steve certainly has a lot of inside knowledge which he can exploit about how HR works in the NHS.'

The same senior manager suggests Mr Griffin's understanding of the way health service HR works might prove more of a threat to other unions, particularly if he is able to impart that knowledge to the RCN's local negotiators.

Mr Griffin distances himself from the idea that he might have an inside track on the Executive's thinking. 'When the appointment with the RCN was confirmed I left immediately to avoid any suggestion of a conflict of interests.'

He adds: 'Clearly I will use my contacts and my understanding of the way things work to the best effect possible for the RCN. That's why I was appointed. That's what the RCN wanted.'

But is it what the RCN's members will want? One union official suggests that the organisation's activists in particular might react badly to having a former NHS manager in the role.

Mr Griffin hopes an average nurse working on the ward in Leeds will, 'if she is an RCN member', think his appointment is a good thing. 'I would like to think that the approach I had as an HR director will, for the most part, remain valid.'

He has, he says, three objectives: to increase the influence of nurses, to win real improvements in nurses' working environment, and to 'make progress' on pay and conditions to make them 'attractive and relevant'.

'When I thought about those and asked myself what I could contribute in those three areas, I realised I have the skills, ability and knowledge that will enable me to deliver improvements to the nurse on the ward,' he says.

And for all that he wants to maintain and build his links with colleagues in NHS management, they will have to get used to not seeing him as one of their own.

'My message is: we are still friends and colleagues, but I have a new agenda and I will pursue it as vigorously as I am able.'