HR in the health service - the story so far . As the UK's largest employing organisation, with a workforce numbering around one million, the NHS is a major competitor for labour in every region of the UK. For this reason, employers throughout the public and private sectors are often interested in developments in its personnel practices. Since Tony Blair first came to power in May 1997, HR policies and practices in the NHS have been subject to almost constant review and, with the recent re-election of a Labour Government, the pace of change is, if anything, set to quicken. Our special review assesses the main employment-related developments that have taken place over the past four years, as well as ongoing and expected changes, including: the Improving Working Lives initiative, encompassing areas such as the provision of retum-to-practice courses to attract former employees, the promotion of work-life balance, and reductions in levels of violence directed against employees; the use of international recruitment; pay modemisation, including the use of job evaluation; the establishment of the health service's own internal temporary staffing agency; increasing throughput from training; a focus on the diversity-equality agenda; and the establishment of an HR Performance Framework, with the task of ensuring that targets are met in key areas.