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Nurse retention: will 4-day week on same pay stop staff leaving NHS?

Campaigners want NHS employers to trial a 32-hour, four-day week, which they say would improve nurses’ work-life balance and help recruitment and retention
Nurses in a hospital corridor, a smiling nurse facing the camera

Campaigners want NHS employers to trial a 32-hour, four-day week, which they say would improve nurses’ work-life balance and help recruitment and retention

Nurses in a hospital corridor, a smiling nurse facing the camera
Picture: Alamy

Would a four-day working week entice you to stay in the NHS for longer? Campaigners have argued it would dramatically boost recruitment and retention in the health service.

Campaign group the 4 Day Week Campaign is calling for NHS employers to experiment with a shorter working week, saying it could stop staff from quitting due to a lack of work-life balance. They also argue it could reduce the NHS’s reliance on costly bank and agency staff to plug workforce gaps.

The group wants to see a year-long pilot of a 32-hour, four-day week, with nurses and other staff in the trial staying on the same pay they are currently earning.

Trial in other sectors found workers’ well-being improved drastically, with no negative impact on productivity

It comes after the majority of UK companies that took part in a four-day week trial, spearheaded by 4 Day Week Campaign, moved to continue with the new working pattern with no reduction in employees’ pay.

The trial found that workers’ well-being across different sectors improved drastically, with no negative impact on productivity.

Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign Joe Ryle said: ‘As we’ve seen in other areas of the economy, there are huge advantages with a four-day working week for both workers and employers. For the NHS it could help to improve job retention, reduce the reliance on expensive agency staff and improve the quality of care.’

A new report by the campaign group said it was becoming ‘increasingly normalised’ for NHS staff to work overtime without proper breaks. One children’s nurse suggested the burden of overtime could fall more heavily on junior staff.

A group of nurses strolling and chatting in a hospital
Picture: iStock

Warnings of exodus of nurses from the profession due to burnout and poor pay

‘There is a culture and pressure to work extra shifts, but I think as a more established nurse you can override that by saying no,’ the nurse was quoted as saying in the report.

The report estimated that for every three nurses trained by March 2024, one experienced nurse will leave due to a lack of work-life balance. There have long been warnings of an exodus of nurses from the profession due to burnout and poor pay, with many already leaving before retirement age for better paid jobs elsewhere.

Former president of charity the Faculty of Public Health John Ashton said greater flexibility for NHS staff, including a shorter working week, could be the key to ending chronic staff shortages.

Dr Ashton said: ‘With job retention levels so low, agencies are charging the NHS around 20% or more extra for staff. A four-day week could dramatically improve job retention and result in this money being re-directed back towards the health service.’


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