Case Study: University College London Hospitals improves nurse retention with NHS Employers' internal transfer scheme

University College London Hospitals - Customer Case Study

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) is a major London hospital trust with more than 8,000 staff, including 3,000 nurses. Although it did not struggle to recruit nurses, it faced a 16% nursing vacancy rate and high turnover, driven in part by limited awareness of internal career development opportunities and a cumbersome sideways-move recruitment process. NHS Employers worked with UCLH to address the retention challenge and reduce reliance on bank and agency staff.

NHS Employers supported UCLH in introducing an internal transfer scheme and a careers clinic to fast-track internal moves, offer career advice, and allow shadowing or bank shifts before transferring. The initiative was rolled out across the nursing workforce and helped halve the nursing vacancy rate from 16% to 8%, deliver financial savings, and reduce time to hire. UCLH reported 225 internal transfers, retained 43 band 5 and 6 nurses during the pilot, and saw band 5/6 leavers fall from 443 in 2014 to 296 in 2015.

University College London Hospitals