ART – Moving Forward, Question 1 of 5

[Roger Moore]

At ART 2019 National Conference a workshop session was held subject title ART – Moving Forward to give delegates their opportunity to comment on five questions. The notes from this workshop session will be discussed by the ART Executive Committee and take forward ideas and suggestions to shape, in a positive way, the future direction of not only ART but how we recruit and retain staff.

The five questions discussed during the workshop session are now on the forum as five separate threads. This is to give those of you who were unable to attend conference the opportunity to put forward your thoughts on these questions and a further opportunity for those who did attend conference to add to those already noted down at conference.

Many thanks in advance for taking time to answer these questions, it is your opportunity to help shape the future direction of ART.

Recruitment and retention – how are we addressing/how can we address this?

[John Moore]

Recruitment and retention has always been a headache for NHS technical departments and Renal is no different. The opportunity for advancement is usually only "dead men's shoes" or changing job roles completely unless you are willing/wanting to move geographically. The biggest problem is the fixed pay-scales and the way posts are tied to grading. Not sure what the answer is however as I can't imagine any employer signing up to a never-ending year on year pay increase!!

[Ian Wilde]

I think from the prospect of retention:

a clear career path needs to be identified with the staff with milestones/goals along the way - showing them that they won't have to move to get that upgrade.

Granted, this all has to be agreed with your Directorate Manager/Accountant but should you lose a band 6 for example, if you feel unable to recruit at that level then get the banding ring fenced and say employ a trainee at band 3/4 with whatever experience you feel is right and show them by achieving certain milestones they can achieve band 6 in X years with the directorate making a cost saving every year until the ring fenced band is fully achieved.

With the revamped Training Scheme now being launched I think it is an ideal tool to help people recruit new starters and develop them into fully fledged techs.

The tricky bit is working with your manager/accountant so they don't try and do the dirty on you and mysteriously remove the chance of progression along the way - get everything in writing (speaking from experience)

[Roger Moore]

Good points raised here.

I have experience that ring fencing budget can work to ensure that post is still available until trainee/junior member of staff has achieved the required levels of experience and/or qualifications.