A shortage of nurse educators with experience in primary and community settings could derail the government’s ambition to enhance community care and reduce hospital dependency, warns a report.
The Council of Deans of Health has today published research on the state of the academic educator workforce across nursing and midwifery in UK universities and colleges.
“A sustainable and properly supported academic workforce is essential to providing the health care professionals of the future”
Ed Hughes
The findings have set out several key factors impacting recruitment and retention of nursing and midwifery educators, including skill and expertise gaps, financial constraints and poor staff progression.
According to the report, the majority of respondents (84%) had recruited within their team over the last two years, with early-career academic the most commonly recruited staff group.
Senior career academics were less likely to be recruited for, with 60% of respondents reporting they had not recruited for these posts in the past two years.
Learning disability nursing educators had experienced the most recruitment challenges over the past two years, followed by adult nursing.
The most common reasons for difficulty recruiting were salary discrepancies between the NHS and academic and finding staff with the appropriate experience, according to the report.
Over the past two years, a third of respondents (34%) reported that they had experienced unfilled educator vacancies.
The main concerns around unfilled vacancies were related to the potential impact on the workload of current staff, as well as the teaching experience.
Meanwhile, the report identified several issues in recruitment of expertise and skills of staff.
Adult nursing had the highest proportion of respondents (40%) stating they had struggled to recruit staff with expertise in specific healthcare settings.
Overall, among those who had struggled, almost half (43%) said they had difficulty recruiting staff with experience in primary and community settings.
The report warned that this shortage of experienced professionals “poses a risk to the government’s 10 Year Health Plan”, which has pledged to shift care from hospital to community.
It said: “The plan’s success hinges on having a robust workforce capable of delivering high-quality care in these environments.
“Without sufficient educator staff, the ambition to enhance community care and reduce hospital dependency may be compromised,” said the report.
Similarly, challenges recruiting staff with experience in mental health settings were also flagged by a third of respondents, particularly by those in mental health nursing.
The report further found that almost a quarter (23%) of respondents were struggling to recruit staff with specific technical skills.
Some 43% reported struggling to recruit advanced practice skills, while 40% said they had struggled to recruit for research skills.
Other technical skills or areas that educators have faced difficulty recruiting into were: ultrasound, cardio-respiratory, neurological physiotherapy specialties, surgical assistance and general academic skills.
Recruiting staff with academic experience was also highlighted as an ongoing challenge.
The report found that professionals typically possess either clinical experience without academic experience, or academic experience without clinical experience, “but rarely both”.
“This gap presents a significant hurdle in finding well-rounded candidates,” it warned.
Retention was also spotlighted in the survey, with many respondents (84%) having staff within their teams leave posts in the last two years.
The most commonly cited reasons for leaving were retirement (33%), staff moving or returning to clinical practice (30%), career development opportunities elsewhere (21%) or career change.
Among those struggling with retention, senior academic staff were the most difficult to retain, with 56% of respondents reporting challenges with this group.
Mental health nursing educators reported the most difficulty retaining early-career academic staff (83%) whilst this was lowest for adult nursing (33%).
The survey revealed that financial challenges were presenting problems in nursing and midwifery education, impacting institutions’ abilities to deliver programmes.
For adult nursing and mental health nursing, over half of respondents reported being negatively affected by financial constraints over the past two years.
Participants from nearly every region reported negative impacts from financial challenges over the past two years.
The report set out 12 recommendations aimed at improving sector capacity and embedding a sustainable academic educator strategy.
Recommendations included:
Promoting the diversity of opportunities and roles for academic educators in nursing and midwifery
Encouraging universities to provide structured pathways for career progression
Offer comprehensive support and training for individuals entering academia to support smooth transitions
Developing and delivering training programmes focused on key skills, including simulation, advanced practice and research
Provide pathways for staff to pursue postgraduate qualifications and other research, teaching and leadership development qualifications
Ed Hughes, chief executive at the Council of Deans of Health, said: “A sustainable and properly supported academic workforce is essential to providing the health care professionals of the future.
“Our research, based on extensive feedback from our members, highlights the pressures which they face in recruiting, retaining and supporting academic staff in nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions.
“It’s vital that we work together with health and education system leaders, employers and funders to address these challenges,” he added.
The Department of Health and Social Care was contacted for comment.
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