NHS staff in the North-West have been leaving the health service at one of the lowest levels in decades.
Only one-in-ten hospital and community healthcare workers left the service in the 12 months after September 2023, indicating the success of a number of retention schemes.
These improvements bring retention to around 2010 levels, the lowest since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chris Cutts, Director of Workforce Training and Education at NHS England North West, has credited the ‘People Promise’ staff retention initiative for the success in retaining staff.
This scheme included e-rostering, flexible working and flexible retirement for 4,500 staff members, with staff members reporting they felt less stressed.
Additional data collected by the NHS shows improvements in recruitment. 621 training places were offered to GP resident doctors in 2024/2025, beating the North West’s target of 600.
The NHS has seen big staffing increases in Lancashire and South Cumbria with smaller gains in Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside.
This coincides with a BBC report stating around 39,000 patients in the North-West spent over a day in A&E due to a lack of beds.
Almost three times as many patients waited over 24 hours in Cheshire and Merseyside as in Greater Manchester.
