One of the UK’s largest studies of NHS workforce retention is being extended to examine how recent changes to postgraduate medical training may influence experiences and retention intentions of healthcare workers across the NHS.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has approved an extension to the I-CARE (Improving retention of healthcare workers from ethnic minority and migrant backgrounds) study, co-led by the NIHR BRC Leicester and University College London (UCL).
The extension will enable researchers to explore how a change in the policy and workforce environment, namely the introduction of the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act, may affect whether healthcare workers plan to stay or leave the NHS, particularly those from ethnic minority and migrant backgrounds.
Co-led by Professor Manish Pareek at the University of Leicester and NIHR Leicester BRC, with Professor Katherine Woolf of UCL Medical School, alongside collaborators at University College London and the University of Oxford, the project will gather further survey and interview data from healthcare professionals across the UK.
Professor Manish Pareek, Co-Principal Investigator of UK-REACH I-CARE and Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Leicester, said: “The NHS workforce continues to evolve in response to changing policies and workforce pressures. This extension allows us to understand how these developments may influence the experiences, career plans and retention intentions of healthcare workers who have been participating in the I-CARE study.
“By building on the existing UK-REACH I-CARE cohort, we can provide timely evidence to support workforce planning and help ensure the NHS retains the skilled professionals it needs to deliver high-quality patient care.”
Professor Katherine Woolf, Co-Principal Investigator of UK-REACH I-CARE and Professor of Medical Education Research at UCL, said: “Healthcare workers are the engine and the heart of our health service. It is crucial to understand which NHS staff are leaving and why, and what can be done to encourage them to stay.
“We are extremely grateful to the ten thousand healthcare staff from across the UK who have already taken part in our research. This project extension will allow us to continue to provide up-to-date evidence to support the wellbeing and retention of NHS staff from diverse backgrounds, who contribute so much to the health service.”
Since its launch, I-CARE has engaged more than 10,000 healthcare workers across the UK and is following a cohort of approximately 25,000 participants. The study explores the factors that influence whether healthcare workers remain in employment, with a particular focus on ethnic minority and migrant staff.
As part of the extension, researchers will launch a new wave of participant questionnaires and undertake targeted interviews to better understand how changing circumstances are shaping career decisions across different staff groups, with support from healthcare regulators, NHS Trusts and medical education and training providers.
The findings will contribute to a broader understanding of NHS workforce retention and support evidence-informed decision-making by national and local healthcare organisations.
The NIHR BRC Leicester is part of the National Institute for Health and Care Research and is hosted by the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, in partnership with the University of Leicester, Loughborough University and University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group.
The centre brings together world‑leading investigators, clinicians, and research facilities to drive innovation in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of major health conditions.
For more information about the NIHR BRC Leicester, visit: www.leicesterbrc.nihr.ac.uk or for UCL please visit www.ucl.ac.uk .