Agenda item

Mrs N Ingham, Director of Workforce and Organisational Development at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, delivered a presentation to the Committee on the topic of recruitment and retention of staff at the Trust.

She began by informing members of the issues that had been identified in relation to recruitment and retention. It was acknowledged that findings from both the Keogh review and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection had highlighted staff shortages, particularly in the mental and nursing workforce. Although progress had been made, it was accepted that that there was still a lot of work to be done in these areas. Mrs Ingham pointed out that there appeared to be difficulties in attracting applicants to work in Blackpool and that there were perceived accessibility issues in relation to working on the Fylde Coast. More work was being done to market Blackpool in a positive way and to highlight the diversity that it has to offer. It was pointed out however that national recruitment shortages existed within certain clinical specialism’s.

The Committee was informed of a number of initiatives that were being taken to address the recruitment issues, together with the recruitment figures for new employees over the past 12 months, during which time 285 nurses and 55 Doctors had been employed, from which approximately 30% were from outside of the UK.

In terms of future plans, a number of actions were being taken, including measures to attract past nurses back into post, a review of attraction packages and the launch of the Trust ‘Workforce Strategy’, which was focussed on attracting, recruiting and retaining staff. On the subject of retention, members were informed that the turnover of nurses was a particular issues, mainly due to retirement as a result of an ageing workforce. The Trust was gathering information as to the reasons people were leaving prior to retirement and details were given to the Committee of a strengthened induction programme and the development of collaborative approaches to recruitment alongside other Trusts.

The Officers from the Trust responded to a number of questions from the Committee. On the subject of the aggregate figures for persons leaving, against those being recruited, it was reported that 15 nurses per month were leaving and 23 per month were being recruited. In order to fill the vacancies completely, 28 per month would need to be recruited.

In response to questions about whether Blackpool’s recruitment difficulties were worse than elsewhere, it was explained that in terms of the medical workforce, it was the same as anywhere else and that the shortage of nursing staff was a national issue. There were however no issues in relation to the recruitment of community nurses.

Mr P Baines, Acting Recruitment Manager at the Trust, addressed questions in relation to overseas recruitment. He provided assurance to the Committee that in taking employees from overseas, the Trust was not depriving other countries from much needed staff. He explained the difference in the overseas labour markets that existed in comparison to the UK. There was a very good success rate in retaining staff from overseas and the Committee was informed that they were employed on the same terms and conditions as UK staff. In terms of the language and written test that was undertaken, the success rate (as a recent example that was given) was just under 50%. Constructive feedback was given was given to those who failed to pass the tests.

To conclude, Mr Baines explained the reasons as to why the Trust did not engage in local newspaper advertising. This was due to both the high cost and a falling circulation of readers. In addition, the demographic was now changing and it was proven that the majority of recruitment was now done via IT methodology.

The Committee agreed to note the presentation and report.

Background papers: None.