Case Study: North Bristol NHS Trust improves recruitment and retention with NHS Employers' values-based recruitment approach

North Bristol adopts the John Lewis approach to values based recruitment for the NHS

North Bristol NHS Trust, the largest hospital trust in the South West of England, needed to improve its recruitment process to reduce high staff turnover and ensure new hires shared its core values. The trust partnered with NHS Employers to implement a new values-based recruitment (VBR) strategy, inspired by the assessment centre approach used by John Lewis.

NHS Employers helped the trust pilot a comprehensive assessment centre for nursing roles, which included value-based tasks, ward visits, and group exercises. This was later adapted for consultant roles with psychometric testing and simulated practical exams. The solution from NHS Employers delivered significant results: a 97% staff retention rate for those hired through the new process and an 83% reduction in the time required from hiring managers. The trust also reported extremely positive candidate feedback, scoring the process 4.5 out of 5.

North Bristol NHS Trust