Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve staff retention in NHS England.
George Freeman
NHS England ran a restructuring programme in 2014/15. Since then, the organisation turnover rate has declined and for the last three months has been on average 3.75%.
Retention issues tend to arise in particular roles or professions, for example finance, or in specific locations. NHS England has mechanisms to address the specific issues. Furthermore, NHS England conducts exit interviews with staff who leave to help understand issues which affect retention and ensure they can be addressed.
In order to ensure NHS England can attract and retain high quality staff, and plan and manage natural succession, it has introduced a formal talent management process to ensure that line managers are discussing current performance, future potential, personal development plans and career aspirations with staff. This process has covered over 1,000 staff in senior and business critical roles. The organisation and senior leadership now have a much better understanding of people’s aspirations, development needs and career intentions.
The organisation has also introduced a staff recognition scheme, and other programmes of work to improve health and well-being, capability development, staff engagement and diversity with the aim of making NHS England an employer of choice for talented people.
