WIREDGOV

Providers are developing innovative solutions to recruitment and retention challenges amid concerns staffing shortages could destabilise services.

The ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan represent an important step to address a number of barriers which have led to more than 5,600 vacancies across the community sector. This includes a commitment to doubling the community workforce by 2037. However, a strategy for implementation will be key and results will take time. 

Community providers are therefore pioneering initiatives that are reducing staff turnover rates, increasing routes into the sector and boosting opportunities for career progression.

Examples include:

• Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, where a dedicated staff engagement plan and recognition of the importance of learning and development has contributed to falling turnover rates.
• Social enterprise Livewell Southwest, which has invested in ‘growing its own’ workforce, working closely with local communities, establishing new routes into employment and breaking down barriers to progression.
• Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust, which has focused on staff engagement on career pathways to promote retention, alongside forensic analysis and action on its NHS Staff Survey results, and a successful apprenticeship scheme.
• Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust, which has developed programmes of work to embed a positive staff culture throughout the organisation, which has a positive impact both on staff wellbeing and patient outcomes.

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