New research to tackle challenges facing NHS and care workforce

£24m will be invested in 5 innovative new research partnerships designed to tackle major challenges facing NHS and social care staff.

Workforce sustainability is a critical area for UK health and social care services, with 106,432* unfilled posts in secondary care (hospital-based and mental health care), and 131,000** unfilled posts in the social care sector.

Now NIHR is investing £24m into 5 Workforce Research Partnerships (WRPs). These will develop and test innovations to improve the quality of health and social care services – improving staff retention and tackling issues such as workplace stress and high staff turnover.

The partnerships involve 24 universities across England and Wales, 5 NHS Trusts, 4 councils, and 5 charities and non-profit organisations. They are 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.”

Karin Smyth, Minister of State for Health said: “As we work to rebuild our broken NHS, it is essential we better understand the skills, expertise and aspirations of our amazing health and care workforce.

“That means making the most of their talents and deploying them where they can be most effective. It also means ensuring the work is enjoyable, meaningful and their wellbeing prioritised in what is, so often, a high-pressured environment.

“The valuable research generated by these partnerships will help us retain and nurture more staff, turn the tide on recruitment challenges, and deliver even more high-quality health and care to communities throughout England.”

Each WRP is made up of a multidisciplinary team. The teams draw expertise from a range of backgrounds. These include human resources, labour economics, work and wellbeing, management science and organisational psychology.

Teams will conduct high quality research into key questions on how best to deploy and support staff across health and social care. The research will explore new ways to keep NHS and social care workforces healthy. This will enable them to stay in and return to work themselves, in turn benefiting the people they care for.

Improving care for patients

Better workforce planning and organisation will lead to a more stable, healthy workforce, and improve care for patients and service users. It will save money for the NHS and the social care sector by reducing recruitment and agency staff costs and better meet future patient needs.

The research will focus on a range of staff roles. This includes GPs, health and social care workers and allied health professionals (AHPs). Plus staff that aren’t often the focus of research. This includes non-clinical and support staff, disabled staff, and staff from ethnic minority groups.

There will also be a focus on staff working in coastal and rural areas. Plus services provided in geographical areas of disadvantage and deprivation.

Long term needs-based research

Workforce sustainability is a key area of the NHS Long Term Plan and the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

WRPs will design their research in response to the needs of key NHS and care stakeholders, including integrated care systems.

The partnerships will run for 5 years. This will boost research capacity and capability in workforce research long term.

They will share data, learning and skills at a national level. This will ensure the evidence leads to life saving and life improving patient care.

NIHR research returns over £13 to the UK economy for every £1 invested by the taxpayer. This comes from direct health benefits and profits to UK firms undertaking research. Plus the economic and social benefits due to stimulated private investment.

The partnerships are funded by NIHR’s Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR) Programme.

The 5 projects

Same day and urgent care workforce research partnership (SURGE)

• Prof Sarah Voss and Prof Nicola Walsh, NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board

There are currently large staff shortages in NHS same day and urgent care services. This includes general practice, ambulance services, urgent treatment centres and Emergency Departments. Working in these services is known to be very stressful. There are high rates of sickness and staff leaving. This partnership aims to provide research to support employers to create a more robust and thriving workforce.

See the SURGE partnership on the NIHR Funding and Awards website.

Allied Health Professions Workforce Research Partnership: supporting a sustainable and effective Allied Health Professions workforce in rural and coastal regions and in deprived urban areas

• Prof Julie Nightingale, Sheffield Hallam University

The research focuses on AHPs. Overall, AHPs are the third largest staff group but are under-researched. This research has the potential to shape decision making at national and local level, particularly in rural and coastal areas.

See the Allied Health Professions partnership on the NIHR Funding and Awards website.

Staff Wellbeing: Innovative partnerships to enable staff to care well under pressure and thrive at work

• Prof Cath Taylor and Prof Jill Maben: University of Surrey

The project is building on a foundation of expertise and evidence on staff wellbeing. It will test solutions to improve staff wellbeing and create healthy workplaces. They are working in partnership with national policy and local service stakeholders.

See the Staff Wellbeing partnership on the NIHR Funding and Awards website.

Social Care Workforce Research Partnership: Care Work

• Prof Ann-Marie Towers, King’s College London and Prof Karen Spilsbury, University of Leeds

The team will develop research to foster a more effective and well-supported social care workforce. They will focus on areas such as wellbeing, labour supply, demand and markets. They will also look at using data and technology and innovation in work conditions and organisation of work.

See the Social Care partnership on the NIHR Funding and Awards website.

Partnership for Workforce Sustainability in Underserved Areas

• Prof Gillian Vance and Dr Bryan Burford, Newcastle University

The NHS faces severe problems recruiting and retaining staff. If there are not enough staff, or if there is a high turnover of staff, the quality of care suffers. This project focuses on areas of high deprivation, where people have more complex needs, and on geographically remote locations. Staffing problems can be worse in these areas. The partnership will focus on the North East, London and the West Midlands, and on primary care and maternity services. It will co-design system changes with staff, patients and organisational leaders in these sectors, to improve workforce sustainability.

See the Underserved Areas partnership on the NIHR Funding and Awards website.

The latest in high quality workforce research

This is the latest in a number of innovative research projects on workforce funded by the HSDR Programme.

Almost a third of HSDR’s 200 live studies have a core focus on workforce. Many have influenced policy and practice. This includes work on: safe nurse staffing levels; recruitment and retention of GPs; evaluation of new roles, including enhanced paramedics.

There is a focus on ensuring innovations can be scaled up to maximise impact and value for money across health and care services.

More information on the HSDR Programme is available on the NIHR website

Source: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/new-research-tackle-challenges-facing-nhs-and-care-workforce