{"id":2278,"date":"2024-04-18T11:57:29","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T10:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/?p=2278"},"modified":"2024-04-18T11:57:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T10:57:29","slug":"should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-monitoring-influences-on-nhs-staff-retention-in-the-post-covid-19-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/2024\/04\/18\/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-monitoring-influences-on-nhs-staff-retention-in-the-post-covid-19-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I stay or Should I go? - Monitoring influences on NHS staff retention in the post COVID-19 world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Andrew Weyman<\/a> <\/span>joined<\/span> the University of Bath <\/span>in<\/span> 2006, <\/span>having previously worked in central government. \u00a0H<\/span>is specialism is the psychology of risk, in particular employee safety, health and well-being at work. A central theme of his more recent research has been the issue of staff retention. He was principal investor <\/span>for <\/span>Should I <\/span>stay<\/span> or Should I go? - Monitoring influences on NHS staff retention in the post COVID-19 world <\/span><\/a>(ESRC 2020-22)<\/span>;<\/span> Extending working life \u2013 Audit of research relating to impacts on NHS Employees <\/span>(NHS Employers 2013)<\/span><\/a>; Extending working life \u2013 Behaviour change interventions <\/a><\/span>(DWP 2012-2013)<\/span> and co-investigation for Extending Working Lives in the NHS: Opportunities, Challenges and Prospects <\/a><\/span>(MRC 2014-2018)<\/span> and <\/span>Extending Working Life Uncertain futures, Late Career Transitions <\/span><\/a>(ESRC 2014-2017).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The issue of staff retention in the NHS is not new but has been brought into sharp relief in the post-COVID-19 era of unpreceded staff shortage. \u00a0While steps have been taken to train new health professionals and recruit from overseas, net gains to the NHS staff complement are at risk of being significantly blunted or defeated in the absence of finding ways to stabilise and enhance the retention of established staff. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the institutional level, what has been widely characterised as a pandemic of<\/span> early-exit <\/span>risks a<\/span> spiral of inter-related losses becoming endemic. Foreseeable impacts include loss of expertise and institutional memory, degraded capacity to deliver patient care, degraded workforce and work-team stability, loss of return on investment in health professional training, and increased human resource costs to employers (e.g. recruitment and employment of bank\/agency staff). All have implications for standards of patient care and the potential to negatively impact on the well-being of staff in-post to the extent that it risks degrading their disposition and\/or capacity to remain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018<\/span>Should I <\/span>stay<\/span> or should I go? NHS staff retention in the post COVID-19 world: Challenges and prospects\u2019, <\/span>was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, in response to the UKRI open-call for COVID-19 relevant social research in spring 2020<\/span> and has received <\/span>follow-on funding from the health sector.<\/span><\/p>\n

The study too<\/span>k<\/span> a risk management and mitigation s<\/span>ystems perspective<\/span> to explore variables with potential impact on staff well-being, in particular their disposition to stay or leave NHS employment<\/span>.<\/span> This was a mixed methods study that aimed to tap the insights of NHS employees (all professions\/occupations, grades) working in secondary care (acute hospitals, mental health, community and ambulance services)<\/span> as well as in non-provider roles.<\/span><\/p>\n

The study comprised <\/span>of a four-wave <\/span>staff survey covering the period <\/span>winter<\/span> 2020 to <\/span>spring<\/span> 2023) <\/span>and interviews with a cross section of employees (2021<\/span>-2022<\/span>).<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he <\/span>study was design <\/span>to provide human resource strategy and policy relevant insight into:<\/span><\/p>\n