Report from the Nuffield Trust

Untapped? Understanding the mental health clinical support workforce

This report explores the roles, responsibilities and diversity of mental health clinical support staff. It aims to draw out the number and distribution of this workforce and issues around recruitment, career progression and retention.

Case study

Leading with empathy

This case study is part of a series that focuses on improving emergency department retention and recruitment. It outlines how East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust are using a modern, supportive approach to staff development to successfully combat longstanding recruitment challenges and rising rates of staff turnover and absence.

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Inspire, Attract And Recruit: An Interactive Toolkit To Support Your Workforce Supply

NHS Employers, December 2018
NHS Employers toolkit offering guidance, good practice, checklists, top tips, questions and leading examples from across the NHS, to help employers take stock of what may need to be done to sustain a workforce pipeline. It aims to provide practical information on understanding audiences, how to attract the right people and ensuring employees have the best on-boarding experience.
Click here to view the toolkit.

Fair care: A workforce strategy for social care

Institute for Public Policy Research, December 2018
Adult social care is an essential public service and a growing part of our economy. However, the social care system in England faces a workforce crisis which is set to grow in the coming years; by 2028, we estimate there will be a shortage of over 400,000 workers in social care.
The challenges of recruiting and retaining workers in the sector is inextricably linked to low pay and poor working conditions. This is itself related to the under-funding of social care and a commissioning and delivery model based on cost not quality. Providers have competed by driving down pay and conditions, and they have faced little resistance given the limited bargaining power of the workforce and the limited enforcement of employment rights. These factors are combining to create a social care workforce crisis.
The solution is a sustainable long-term funding settlement for social care and a transformation of the social care workforce model. This should be based on the establishment of decent pay and terms and conditions through sectoral collective bargaining, and a professionalisation of the social care workforce. These measures would help ensure high-quality work for care workers, and high-quality care for those who need it.
Click here to view the full report.

Care staffing in the NHS: the good, the bad and the promising

BPP University School of Nursing, December 2018
Report from BPP University School of Nursing looking at nurse recruitment. It finds while it is clear that NHS trusts are having to deal with budgetary pressures and a skills shortage which may be exacerbated by Brexit, they are also facing significant changes to their traditional training models. This includes factors such as cuts to bursaries and the declining numbers of those applying for nursing degrees.
Click here to view the full report.