• NHS Improvement launches new retention programme for trusts 
• Programme will offer a range of support to reduce the number of staff leaving the NHS by 2020
• We welcome initiative which focuses on areas where retention is most difficult, for example in mental health. 

NHS Improvement have announced a new Retention Programme today which will aim to improve staff retention in trusts across England and bring down the leaver rates in the NHS by 2020. Please see a response below from NHS Providers. 

This support will initially start with 20 trusts; one cohort aimed at trusts with above average nurse leaving rates and one at mental health trusts with above average leaving rates for all clinical staff.

The new Retention Programme will offer a wide range of support, including:

• A series of masterclasses for Directors or Nursing and HR directors to discuss ways to reduce retention;
• Further work with NHS Employers to explore how NHS Improvement can help build on its current national retention programme;
• Targeted support for all mental health trusts to improve the retention rates of all clinical staff groups within these trusts;
• The piloting and rollout of an engagement tool designed to help trusts understand why staff leave, and a tool on analysing staff surveys; and
• Materials, guidance and webinars on how to improve retention rates 

Responding to the staff retention programme announced by NHSI, the director of policy and strategy Saffron Cordery, said:

“We welcome this initiative. Workforce is a top concern for trusts up and down the country, and retention is a vital element in this. The NHS is severely stretched and we need to keep and value our staff. This is important for the quality, and particularly the continuity of care. We need to follow through on the investment in training staff by consolidating and building on their skills, motivating them and giving them reasons to stay in the NHS.

We are pleased this initiative is focusing on areas where retention is most difficult, for example in mental health.

“Everything that trusts can do locally, supported by national measures, has to be a step in the right direction. We are pleased this initiative is focusing on areas where retention is most difficult, for example in mental health.

“However, until we address the underlying issues driving retention problems, including the pay cap and the unsustainable workplace pressures, these approaches will only have a limited impact.