This letter is in relation to the Infected Blood Inquiry, and is for GPs, primary care networks and trusts. It asks healthcare professionals to avoid disposing of the original documentation relating to infected blood, as this will be required to aid compensation claims. It is a joint letter from NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Infected Blood Compensation Authority.

Thousands fewer staff left the NHS last year, thanks to a major new retention programme which is now being expanded across the country. Up to 42 more NHS trusts are set to benefit from the NHS retention programme, which has seen staff offered extra flexibility with working hours, clinical ‘support squads’ to help menopausal women […]

Letter from Professor Sir Stephen Powis, Navina Evans and Dame Ruth May inviting expressions of interest for a second cohort of the People Promise retention exemplar programme.

This guidance sets out the criteria for doctors who wish to join the GP Retention Scheme.

Its intended audience includes:

• Doctors who are considering applying to join the scheme.
• Doctors who are currently designated “retained doctors”.
• Deans of Postgraduate GP Education/Heads of Primary and Community Care Education and their teams.
• GP practices employing or considering employing a retained GP under this scheme.
• NHS England local teams and ICBs with delegated co-commissioning responsibility.

Through its review of recorded patient safety events the National Patient Safety Team identified an issue related to retention of bone cement following hip surgery. An incident described an elderly patient returning to theatre to remove unintentionally retained bone cement, following a hip replacement procedure for a fractured neck of femur. Bone cement is used […]

This tool enables organisations to undertake a self- assessment against the seven elements of the NHS people promise plus key elements that support staff to deliver high quality care, enhancing job satisfaction and supporting the retention of nurses and midwives. Organisations are encouraged to use the information gathered in the dashboard to develop and implement their local evidence-based retention improvement plans.

A toolkit is available to support line managers and employers and includes a template retention improvement plan.

If you have any questions about the tool, please email england.lookingafterourpeople@nhs.net

Data suggests that many healthcare support workers (HCSWs) leave the NHS because their shift patterns are not conducive to a good work-life balance. The NHS People Plan, which underpins the NHS Long Term Plan, sets out a clear ambition to have more staff working differently in a compassionate and inclusive culture. As flexibility can be […]

A good induction process can be key to ensuring healthcare support workers (HCSWs) feel welcomed into an organisation and supported in their role, especially HCSWs that are younger or are new to care. This is critical to retention, mitigating early attrition and to empowering staff to deliver high-quality care. A good induction should provide HCSWs […]

Pastoral support for healthcare support workers (HCSWs) should be holistic and focus on wellbeing needs, as well as training and development needs. Recognising the challenges of the role and providing training and support to mitigate the impact of these challenges are vital to retention, particularly for younger HCSWs and those new to healthcare in their first […]

Effective processes are needed to rapidly induct HCSWs into an organisation and equip them with the knowledge, skills and confidence to provide high-quality care quickly. An enhanced onboarding process may be useful to consider. It is also essential that your recruitment strategy and your onboarding, education and training processes include and communicate ways to retain […]