The NHS contains around 2 million people in its workforce. This fraction of the population works together to take care of the healthcare needs of the other 65 million people who live and work in the UK.

Considering the population’s ratio to healthcare workers, it can easily be imagined that a lot could go wrong. Healthcare workers suffer from burnout because of the amount of stress that comes with the job. This, as a result, this can lead to many healthcare professionals leaving their jobs for other countries with better working conditions and lesser margin between the workforce and the population. In fact, a recent survey shows that 37% of healthcare professionals plan to leave their current employment within two months and 68.6% plan to leave theirs within five years. So what can we do to retain our healthcare workers? Good pay rates, flexible working conditions, and an amicable work environment are essential foundations-but is there more can be done to hang-on to our heroes?

Is there a way to improve staff retention in UK healthcare hospitals?

Here are some tips that could help health care systems keep more of their workers and decrease the likelihood of burnout.

 

• Adequate feedback

It is essential to know what your staff are feeling or saying at every point in time. Audits must be carried out quite frequently to know what changes need to be made in the facility.

 

• Necessary, timely action

It is one thing to get feedback from the staff, and it is equally as important to take needed action on the feedback. Generally, staff members want to know that their voices count. They want to feel that the management sees and treats them like absolute necessities with valid opinions. This involves better rotation and working hours, flexible work environments and such things as open-door policies. Locum working offers many of these key attributes, especially flexibility. Take a look at our blog on Locum working here.

 

• Appreciation and recognition

When staff members go the extra mile in their jobs, they should be recognized, acknowledged, and rewarded. This serves as a source of motivation to them and others to do even more.

 

• Continual learning and education

People usually do not like environments that stagnate them. Continual learning avenues should be made available for professional growth and improvement. This, in return, will also simultaneously translate to an improvement in the productivity of the employee.

 

• Tool availability

A workman needs his tools! It is essential that healthcare workers are not frustrated with the lack of equipment, especially when they can be provided. The absence of these can lead them to search for jobs where such necessities are made available.

Conclusion

The healthcare workforce is essential to modern-day societies. If there was any doubt, 2020 indeed proved the workforce is of sheer necessity and value; hence steps must be taken to retain them in a happy working environment. At ProMedical, we focus on staffing solutions that work, that puts people first and provides a flexible and happy working environment.