Intended for healthcare professionals

Feature Workforce Retention

How can the NHS offer fulfilling, lifelong careers?

BMJ 2019; 364 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l1100 (Published 08 March 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;364:l1100
  1. Abi Rimmer, editor, BMJ Careers
  1. The BMJ
  1. arimmer{at}bmj.com

With morale and retention among UK doctors declining, The BMJ hosted a discussion at last week’s Nuffield Trust health policy summit, asking what the NHS can do to support clinicians throughout their careers. Abi Rimmer reports

“Enabling people to pursue their other interests is one key thing,” said Rakhee Shah, paediatric registrar and research associate at the Association for Young People’s Health, kicking off discussions. She highlighted the importance of giving clinicians more control over their working lives.

Ronny Cheung, consultant paediatrician at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, took this further, saying that it was also important to give clinicians control over their everyday workload. He said that his trust, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, had been “trying to make time and space for teams to come together.”

“It’s about regaining control,” he said, “and investing in people to allow them to do that.” This not only made staff feel more valued but also helped to remind them what they enjoyed about their work. “It has a multiplying effect,” he said.

Claire Lemer, consultant at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, highlighted the importance of food for staff. She described a successful initiative at her hospital that encouraged the executive team to provide food for clinical and administrative staff.

She said, “It’s just extraordinary to see how staff respond to the fact that someone has …

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