This short report sets out the urgent need for good research and evidence to support decision-making about the health and social care workforce in the UK and internationally. It provides a call for action to fund and organise workforce research which is both rigorous and relevant to the current and future needs of policymakers and practitioners, and to put in place systems and support to get the research evidence to the people who need it in timely and actionable forms.
The report is based on findings from a forum for policymakers, senior leaders, researchers and academics held in York in March 2023. Over eighty people from a wide range of organisations across the UK came together to map out the workforce research and evidence landscape and to agree what needed to be done – and this call for action is very much the product of their experience and expertise. We are deeply grateful to Health Education England, the Health Foundation and the University of York who supported that forum and the production of this report.
The report first outlines – briefly – the current state of the health and care workforce and what seem to be some of the predominant and persistent challenges in securing a workforce that is fit for purpose. It then turns to outlining the research landscape – mapping out how great research and evidence on the health and care workforce is currently organised, funded and produced and what happens to it in policy and practice. Finally, it seeks to articulate a shared agenda for action – setting out both several thematic areas which our forum discussed and in which we think there are important research needs and opportunities to use evidence to improve policy and practice; and outlining some investments in systems and infrastructure which we think are needed.
Authors:
Cat Chatfield, Kieran Walshe, Tara Lamont