Care homes are a key part of the health and social care system and staff working in care homes are fundamental to residents’ experiences of care and their quality of life. Care homes, as organisations, vary in size, staffing levels and mix, and working conditions. High staff turnover and staff shortages impact on quality of care, can be costly and increase workload and pressure for remaining staff. It is important to know how care homes can improve recruitment and retention, and therefore be sustainably staffed. COVID-19 has created additional pressures and challenges, and Brexit is likely to impact on recruiting international staff. Salary is undoubtedly important, although evidence suggests a pay rise alone is not always enough to improve staffing levels. There are additional factors influencing staff decisions to join and remain working in care homes, such as feeling valued at work, flexible hours, supportive management, good training, and robust team relationships. Different staff groups have different and varied needs, wants and expectations. For example, it is reasonable to expect that young people in their first caring role will have different expectations to staff who are close to retirement. Given the importance of attracting, recruiting and retaining this workforce there is surprisingly little research that differentiates between staff groups, organisational characteristics, and the working conditions that influence staff decisions to stay or leave. A study commencing early next year (March 2021), led by the University of Leeds and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), will address this gap. The study will seek to develop theories that explain what works for different staff groups, why, and the associated costs.

The study will use realist methods to address the following questions: what strategies are effective in attracting and recruiting Registered Nurses and care workers who are new to care homes, and retaining those currently employed? What works best for which staff, under what circumstances, and what are the resource implications? The main study activity will involve in-depth scrutiny of the existing knowledge base of what is already known around how to support staff recruitment, engagement and retention in care homes. This will include reviewing published scientific evidence and evidence from other sources, for example, social care related reports and in-house evaluations, blogs, social care guidelines, student dissertations, social media posts, editorials, letters, and podcasts. Alongside this scrutiny other research activities include carrying out in-depth interviews with Registered Nurses and care staff employed in (and those who have left) care home organisations. Stakeholder consultation activities will also be carried out throughout the project where we will consult with wider sector stakeholders, including care home residents, relatives, care home managers, and representatives from national organisations such as Skills for Care.

We are seeking people to get involved from Spring 2021 to tell us about their experiences and offer personal insights. Please get in touch, we can’t wait to hear from you. Follow us on Twitter (@_DrReenaDevi and @LeedsNiche) too to stay tuned about this exciting project!

Team members include:

Karen Spilsbury, Professor of Nursing at the School of Healthcare, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Leeds. Tweets @SpillersK

Claire Goodman, Professor of Health Care Research at the Center for Research in Public Health and Community Care, University of Hertfordshire. Tweets @HDEMCOP

Liz Jones, Policy director at The National Care Forum. Tweets @NCF_Liz

Sonia Dalkin, Senior Lecturer at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. Tweets @SoniaDalkin

Angela Bate, Senior Lecturer at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle

Judy Wright, Senior information specialist and qualified librarian at the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds. Tweets @jmwleeds

Edna Feenan, a member of the public with personal experience of care homes

Karen Winterburn, a member of the public with personal experience of care homes