Of all the challenges facing the NHS in 2024, the two biggest issues from an employer perspective are, without doubt, recruitment and retention.
The workforce itself is growing, but demand for services has seen a rapid rise as well, driven by an ageing population, increasingly complex healthcare needs, medical advancements and primary care backlogs. As such, the service is now struggling to keep up, currently unable to recruit the number of staff members required to meet this demand.
Recent research from health and social care charity The King’s Fund, published back in May, found that there are approximately 111,000 posts currently unfilled across the NHS, with vacancy rates high for doctors, nurses and other staff, as well as allied health professionals including occupational and physiotherapists.
It was also found that the number of staff leaving the health service has more than tripled since 2013/2014, with over half of those leaving doing so voluntarily. Reasons for departure include improving work-life balance, health issues, relocation and dependants.
In order to resolve these shortages, it will be necessary to both bring on new members of staff and prioritise retention of those already working within the NHS. While there is a lot that will be outside your control, there’s also much that can be done to improve recruitment practices.
For example, you could focus on core values rather than qualifications when looking to hire new people. There is a misconception that a lack of qualifications prevents access to healthcare jobs, but this isn’t always the case and people may find they have transferable skills and experience that helps them access pathways into the NHS.
You could also consider advertising your job roles in more unorthodox places, such as social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, as well as LinkedIn. Widening the search means more people will be likely to see your job ads and be encouraged to apply.
Of course, these are only a couple of hints and tips to help boost your recruitment strategies. If you’d like to find out more about how to hire and retain the best people for the job, get in touch with the Service Gap Solutions team today.