NHS must tackle inequality to improve retention, says health secretary

Source: BMJ: British Medical Journal , 22 Apr 2019 - 28 Apr 2019, Vol. 365 (22 Apr 2019 -
28 Apr 2019)
Published by: BMJ

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NEWS

NHS must tackle inequality to improve retention, says

The NHS in England must deal with its problems concerning career ladder, even when they have children and caring
gender and racial inequality if it is to stem the flow of staff responsibilities.”
leaving the service, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, has He pointed out that inequality in the NHS went beyond gender,
said. also affecting people from minority ethnic backgrounds and
“Too often we’ve lost talented people from the NHS because those who had disabilities.
we haven’t done enough to convince them to stay,” he said. “Only by embracing equality of opportunity are we going to be
“The most troubling statistic that I’ve seen is this: one in 11 able to address the staff shortages, get the people we need to
NHS staff leave the NHS entirely every single year. It’s create the sustainable NHS that we all want to be there for
something we urgently need to address, and I believe a large generations to come, and make sure that we really make use of
number of those people leave because we haven’t done enough the talent in the NHS so that we can harness everyone’s
to make the NHS a great place to work.” potential,” he said.
Hancock made the comments in a speech at the Royal College After his speech, he responded to a question about the pension
of Physicians’ annual conference in Manchester on 25 April. tax problems that are facing many consultants and the actions
He said that, as well as tackling resourcing and contractual that many are considering, such as reducing their working hours
issues, a key part of increasing retention rates would involve or taking early retirement.1 “Don’t do it,” he said. “Don’t take
improving working culture, which would in turn drive up early retirement.”
organisational performance.
He said he understood the problem and that work was under
“In every trust where there is a problem with unequal treatment way to seek to resolve the issue. “I accept the premise of the
there is a problem with performance, across the board, across challenge,” he said. “Pensions tax is a responsibility of the
England,” he said. Treasury, and the chancellor would have my guts for garters if
The gender gap was a good “barometer” of the health of the I set Treasury tax policy, but it is something that I am talking
NHS, he said, pointing to figures showing that men in the NHS to him about to try to resolve. I understand the high effective
earn on average 23% more than their female counterparts. “It’s marginal tax rates that come from the interaction of some of the
clear that things must change, and I’m determined to change pension rules and the NHS pension system. It’s an unintended
them,” he said. consequence of a change that was economy wide, and it is a
Hancock said that a culture of transparency in pay, promotion, discussion that we are having.”
and reward would be needed to close this gap. “We need to
1 Armstrong S, Goldstone AR. Three weeks to find £25 000: the NHS doctors remortgaging
create a working culture that puts flexible working at the heart, to pay punitive pension tax bills. BMJ 2019;364:l998. 10.1136/bmj.l998 30837244
that encourages women to stay in the NHS family and take the Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already
opportunities to progress, that helps women to move up the granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/
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