Should I stay or should I go? - NHS staff retention in a post COVID19 world, challenges and prospects

在英国各地，新冠肺炎疫情对NHS的员工和资源提出了前所未有的要求。能力问题-训练有素的工作人员、医院病床和其他重要设备（个人防护设备和呼吸机）-在确定政府管理危机的政策方面至关重要。工作人员短缺和寻找方法提高员工保留率是NHS长期面临的挑战，但在管理Covid-19病例以及因大流行而延迟的护理/治疗积压的背景下，这一问题更加突出。对于2020年春季对服务的严重需求的影响知之甚少，以及未来几个月对NHS员工弹性的不可知需求概况，特别是他们继续满足前所未有的护理需求的能力和意愿，以及对他们健康和福祉的相关影响。这项研究旨在回答以下问题：（i）新型冠状病毒疫情对人力资源的短期及长期影响如何？(ii)NHS工作人员能够/准备多长时间来满足与疫情直接相关的扩大的工作需求和非COVID治疗需求的积压？(iii)COVID-19危机的遗留问题将对NHS员工继续留在NHS就业的决心产生什么影响？(iv)可能需要改变什么来维持目前的NHS员工留下来;激励那些响应英国政府要求返回的人，并吸引最近离开的人返回NHS就业？这些问题将使用一系列补充来源的数据来回答：一个定制的英国范围内的NHS员工调查;四个NHS信托的案例研究和对既定（二级）数据来源（英国劳动力和NHS工作人员调查）的询问。在政府发出呼吁后，大量前国民保健服务工作人员（约27 000人）返回，这是值得注意的，因为这使人们注意到国民保健服务通常失去的未开发资源。

Across the UK the Covid-19 pandemic has imposed unprecedented demands on NHS staff and resources. Issues of capacity - in trained staff, hospital beds, and other vital equipment (PPE and ventilators) - have been critical in determining government policy in managing the crisis. Staff shortages and finding ways to increase rates of staff retention is a long-established challenge for the NHS but, comes into even sharper focus in the context of managing Covid-19 cases, as well as the backlog of care / treatment delayed by the pandemic.Little is known of the impact of the expeeence of the acute demand for services during spring 2020, and the unknowable profile of demand over coming months on NHS staff resilience, in particular their capacity and willingness to continue to meet the unprecedented demand for care, and associated impacts on their health and wellbeing.This research sets out to answer the questions:(i) How will the Covid-19 pandemic impact on staffing resources in the short and longer term?(ii) How long will NHS staff be able/prepared to meet the amplified job demands directly associated with the epidemic and the backlog of demand for non-COVID treatment?(iii) What impact will the legacy of the COVID-19 crisis have on the resolve of NHS employees to remain in the NHS employment?(iv) What might need to change to sustain current NHS employees remaining; motivate those who returned in response to the request from the UK Government and attract recent leavers to return to NHS employment?These questions will be answered using date from an array of complementary sources: a bespoke UK-wide NHS employee survey; case studies of four NHS Trusts and interrogation of established (secondary) data sources (the UK Labour Force and NHS staff surveys). The return of substantial numbers of ex-NHS staff (~27,000), following the Government appeal, is of notable interest, as it directs attention to an untapped resource normally lost to the NHS.