Workforce sustainability is a critical area for UK health and social care services, with 106,432 unfilled posts in secondary care, and 131,000 unfilled posts in the social care sector.

Now the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has invested £5m into Newcastle University-led research focused on addressing challenges in healthcare recruitment and retention.

The research aims to enable better working environments, leading to a more stable, healthy workforce, and improve care for patients and service users.

It will also support better workforce planning and organisation, with the potential to save the NHS money by reducing recruitment and agency staff costs, and better meet future patient needs.

‘Sharp end of challenges’

The funding is part of the NIHR’s wider investment of £24m into five Workforce Research Partnerships (WRPs) across the country.

These partnerships will develop and test innovations to improve the quality of health and social care services, by tackling issues such as workplace stress and high staff turnover.

The Newcastle WRP will focus specifically on primary care and maternity services, which are already experiencing workforce problems, especially in underserved – remote and deprived – communities.

Professor Gill Vance, Director of Research in the School of Medicine at Newcastle University, who is co-leading the partnership, said: “Underserved areas are likely to be on the sharp end of challenges to workforce sustainability, and so are priorities for research to understand why problems arise, and how they may be addressed.

“For our research, we will work with staff and patients in targeted areas of need to identify what has to change, and help design ways in which systems, processes or policy can be altered for the better.

“Where possible, we will also support implementation of interventions, and evaluate their impact through methods including questionnaires, interviews and consideration of economic impact.”

The Newcastle-led partnership involves researchers at Northumbria, Oxford, Birmingham and York universities, and colleagues in NHS Integrated Care Boards and Healthwatch networks across England.

It will also be supported by advisory groups, including staff members, patients and the public, as well as senior figures in the NHS and other policy and regulatory organisations.

Dr Bryan Burford, Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University, who is co-leading the partnership, said: “The voices of those who work in the care settings affected, and of those patients and public who will benefit from those services, will be central to shaping our research.

“Rather than asking people to fit into a system they don’t want to work in, we are looking to improve the system so that people want to work in it.

“Our findings will be shared with practitioners and managers who implement change, and with the public who will make use of them.

“The implications will also be shared with policy makers, from regional NHS organisations to the Department of Health and Social Care.”

The WRP will run for five years and will share data, learning and skills at a national level to ensure the evidence leads to lifesaving and life-improving patient care.

Professor Alison Steven, from Northumbria University, who is part of the partnership research team, said: "We are delighted to be part of this important partnership which aims to tackle urgent workforce issues in the NHS, especially in underserved areas where the need is greatest.

"This programme of work is underpinned by the principles of co-design, allowing us to support and work with healthcare colleagues in shaping the future of the workforce across many primary healthcare and maternity services.

“Adopting this participatory approach to identifying, articulating and addressing challenges to workforce sustainability will really help us to drive real and lasting change."

‘Crucial new research’

The WRPs involve 24 universities across England and Wales, five NHS Trusts, four councils, and five charities and non-profit organisations, working across a wide range of integrated care system regions.

Professor Lucy Chappell, NIHR Chief Executive, and Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for Health and Social Care, said: “Staff are the backbone of our health and care system. The NIHR is stepping up to fund high-quality research to understand our workforce needs better.

“These new landmark research partnerships will generate crucial new research across a range of projects to help improve the quality, organisation and retention of teams, which will in turn improve the quality of care they provide.”