Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 3 July 2023, what steps he is taking to help improve staff retention within the NHS.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, is a plan to retain more staff as well as to train more staff and reform the way they work. This includes pension changes, enabling newly retired doctors to rejoin the National Health Service. The plan builds on the NHS People Plan and People Promise, which set out a comprehensive range of actions to improve staff retention. They provide a strong focus on creating a more modern, compassionate and inclusive NHS culture by strengthening health and wellbeing, equality and diversity, culture and leadership and flexible working.

NHS providers have been asked to improve staff retention measures in their workforce plans, by focussing on elements of the NHS People Promise. Staff wellbeing should be strategically aligned with elective recovery plans, including workforce demand and capacity planning.

In addition, the NHS Retention Programme is continuously seeking to understand why staff leave, resulting in targeted interventions to support staff to stay whilst keeping them well. A staff retention guide has been updated and includes information on supporting staff in their late and early career with specific focus on induction, reward and recognition and menopause support.