We need to talk about the workers: Researching the health and social care workforce and (re)searching for solutions

Event Details

Date:	Tuesday, 14 November 2023
Time:	12:30 p.m.–1:30 p.m. GMT

Programme

Scarcely a day seems to go by without some news about NHS staff – their pay, conditions, actions, and attitudes. By contrast, the social care workforce is less prominent, despite being numerically larger than its NHS counterpart. In both sectors however the workforce seems to be increasingly cast as part of the problem as well as the solution to the problems facing the health and care system.

This lecture will explore the problems of the health and social care workforce from different research perspectives and how solutions seem to rise and fall in popularity. Some golden threads are explored, such as the UK reliance on international recruitment, numerous recruitment initiatives, scant retention interest, and a surprising short-sightedness in preparing for workforce ageing or acknowledging the likelihood that people may wish to have children and/or support wider family members. Research interest in the workforce is growing and ideas for approaches and studies will be canvassed.

Speaker

Jill Manthorpe CBE is Professor Emerita at King’s College London in its Policy Institute. For 20 years she was Director of the Policy Research Unit in Social Care Workforce and then the Policy Research Unit in Health and Care Workforce funded by Department of Health and latterly the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). She was a member of NIHR’s Strategy Board and is actively involved in several NIHR funding streams and awards. In addition to her research activities, Jill is a Trustee for a major care provider, has served as a Non-Executive Director of three NHS Trusts, and provides advice to a variety of governments, research teams, health and care providers, and local government bodies. She is newly vice-chair of the Advanced Care Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh and will shortly be a Trustee of a major grant giving Trust. Jill is Honorary Professor at the Queen’s University Belfast, University of Melbourne and was SR Nathan visiting professor for several years at the National University of Singapore.

Learn More