The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce at King's was well represented at the first meeting of this new Forum which brought together health and care workforce research, policy and practice stakeholders from across the UK to discuss, share evidence and promote collaboration on priority workforce questions. As part of the Co-ordinating Group for the meeting, we have been keen to see this develop into a Roadmap for Workforce Research enabling the research community to fully address the Department of Health and Social Care's Areas of Research Interest. The meeting was funded by a consortia led by HSR UK, The Health Foundation, Health Education England, and the University of York enabling participation from researchers, policy makers and funders.

The challenges, scale and impact of the current workforce imperatives, particularly around retention, as well as recruitment, were set out in opening scene setting presentations from Health Education England, The Health Foundation and an international perspective from Canada.

Using our research expertise and experience on the subjects, Unit members led or took part in sessions that included:

• Workforce data analytics;
• Skill mix and new roles;
• Equality, diversity, inclusion and discrimination;
• Workforce policy, planning and future workforce needs;
• Recruitment, retention and workforce exit/retirement;
• New ways of working;
• Development in professional regulation;
• Employee health and well-being, burnout/stress;
• Workforce staffing and health care outcomes;
• Bullying, harassment and whistleblowing;
• International workforce/migration;
• Pay and reward strategies;
• Management and leadership;
• Research funding and future research agenda; and
• Interprofessional and multidisciplinary working.

The Unit thanks the HRS UK team in particular for its leadership of this event, which took place 21-22 March at the University of York.

And see

Lamont T, Chatfield C, Walshe K. What we know and don’t know about the health and social care workforce BMJ 2023; 382: p1569 doi:10.1136/bmj.p1569 [deriving from this meeting]

February 2024 update

Lamont T, Chatfield C, Walshe K. Developing the future research agenda for the health and social care workforce in the United Kingdom: findings from a national forum for policymakers and researchers. Int J Health Plann Mgmt. 2024; 1-9. doi:10.1002/hpm.3775 [deriving from this meeting]

 

Header image: one of the discussions at the event, including Prof Jill Manthorpe, far left. Photo: Chiara Dall'Ora.