NHS Providers welcomes support for trusts to improve staff retention.

29 June 2017

 

NHS Improvement have announced a new Retention Programme today which will aim to improve staff retention in trusts across England and bring down the leaver rates in the NHS by 2020. Please see a response below from NHS Providers. 

This support will initially start with 20 trusts; one cohort aimed at trusts with above average nurse leaving rates and one at mental health trusts with above average leaving rates for all clinical staff.

The new Retention Programme will offer a wide range of support, including:

 

Responding to the staff retention programme announced by NHSI, the director of policy and strategy Saffron Cordery, said:

“We welcome this initiative. Workforce is a top concern for trusts up and down the country, and retention is a vital element in this. The NHS is severely stretched and we need to keep and value our staff. This is important for the quality, and particularly the continuity of care. We need to follow through on the investment in training staff by consolidating and building on their skills, motivating them and giving them reasons to stay in the NHS.

We are pleased this initiative is focusing on areas where retention is most difficult, for example in mental health.

“Everything that trusts can do locally, supported by national measures, has to be a step in the right direction. We are pleased this initiative is focusing on areas where retention is most difficult, for example in mental health.

“However, until we address the underlying issues driving retention problems, including the pay cap and the unsustainable workplace pressures, these approaches will only have a limited impact.