NHS: Nurse Retention

Baroness Masham of Ilton Excerpts

Wednesday 17th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

The point about understanding the reasons that people leave is very important. Some hospitals use exit interviews for that; I do not know if it is a nationwide programme but I shall certainly write to the noble Lord about that as it is a good idea. As for attracting staff back, I mentioned the return-to-practice programme. I think my noble friend Lady Chisholm took advantage of a similar programme when she returned to work after having children. I come back to the issue of pay. We know that pay is important, which is why lifting the cap will make an important difference to showing how much we value these staff.

[Baroness Masham of Ilton (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that, if the National Health Service provided reasonable housing for nurses and flexible working for those with children, it would help to retain them?

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

The noble Baroness is quite right. We know that housing costs are an issue, particularly in the south of England and cities, which is why we want to use the sale of surplus NHS land to deliver more homes specifically for nurses and other similar professionals. She is also right to talk about flexible working, which comes up time and again in staff surveys. The use of nursing banks can be very helpful in that regard, and we have seen a big switch away from agencies towards using such banks for those places that need to be filled temporarily.