Case Study: Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust improves SAS doctor retention with NHS Employers

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust - Customer Case Study

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHT) partnered with NHS Employers to tackle SAS doctor career progression, recruitment, and retention challenges. The trust needed to strengthen staffing, improve seven-day service delivery, and create better development pathways for specialty and associate specialist doctors, particularly those seeking consultant-level progression through the CESR route.

NHS Employers highlighted CHT’s CESR support approach as a good practice example, and the trust implemented a support group, named assessors, mentorship, tailored rotations, secondments, and ePortfolio access to help doctors build the evidence needed for specialist registration. The results included improved morale and motivation for doctors, recognition from Health Education England, and £30,000 in funding to roll out the SAS development and retention programme further, including support in emergency medicine.

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust