Essential reading for NHS Chief People Officers: a curated guide
As a Chief People Officer (CPO) in the NHS, it’s crucial to stay informed about healthcare workforce trends, leadership strategies and organisational development, alongside continuously gathering ideas and feedback from frontline workers in your trust or organisation.
This curated reading list highlights key publications and reports that provide valuable insights for strategic workforce planning and people management in healthcare settings.
1. Staff recruitment and retention
Aside from the NHS People Plan and NHS People Promise, which are fundamental reading for CPOs, these documents provide crucial insights into the NHS workforce:
- The King’s Fund’s Workforce in a Nutshell report provides an easy-to-digest overview of the breakdown of the NHS workforce, with key statistics on demographics, reasons for leaving and wellbeing. Their analysis of international recruitment practices and retention strategies is particularly relevant for CPOs developing sustainable workforce plans.
- The Nuffield Trust’s NHS Workforce in Numbers provides facts on staffing and staff shortages in the NHS.
- NHS Employers’ Improving Staff Retention: A Guide for Employers offers practical retention strategies – crucial for CPOs battling talent shortages and high turnover rates. With over 112,000 vacancies and a 26% hospital attrition rate, this guide addresses challenges exacerbated by competitive pay and post-Brexit recruitment difficulties.
2. Staff wellbeing and burnout
- The Health Foundation’s interim report Towards a Healthier Workforce sets out the challenges in managing the wellbeing of NHS workers and shares areas of focus for the project. This will be a key initiative to keep an eye on in 2025.
- Our White Paper on retention sets out eight key drivers of retention in the NHS, alongside helpful case studies showing how small and affordable changes suggested by frontline staff, alongside real-time engagement, can make a big impact on retention.
- NHS Providers’s report Priorities for the NHS workforce: the NHS Trust perspective provides an overview of the following areas of workforce policy: building an NHS for the future, pay and culture and staff wellbeing.
3. Workforce planning for future demand
- The Nuffield Trust’s In the balance report, commissioned by NHS Employers, reviews the evidence around introducing new roles like nursing associates, advanced practitioners, physician associates and clinical pharmacists, and offers a set of lessons for how emerging roles could be better implemented and integrated.
- NHS England’s NHS Long Term Workforce Plan focuses on training to meet rising demand from an aging population – a top CPO concern for ensuring future workforce readiness.
4. Leadership and cultural change
- McKinsey’s healthcare-specific reports on organisational transformation offer valuable insights for CPOs leading change initiatives. Their research on building resilient healthcare organisations is particularly relevant post-pandemic.
- The NHS Leadership Academy’s Learning Hub has an inspiration library, including content on inclusive and compassionate leadership frameworks that provide evidence-based approaches to developing healthcare leaders.
- The King’s Fund’s report The practice of collaborative leadership details how health and care leaders at all levels have a critical role modelling six core leadership practices to build a stronger collaborative ethos.
5. Staff engagement and voice
- NHS England’s Chief Executive’s Report (January 2025) notes engagement efforts (including 94 new doctors) and aligns with calls for continuous feedback to boost staff autonomy. With only half of staff feeling heard, according to the NHS Staff Survey, this report highlights a critical CPO priority.
- NHS Employers’ calendar of events is full of key dates for the workforce community wanting to upskill and stay up-to-date.
6. Cost pressures and agency staff spending
- Royal College of Nursing (RCN) NHS Agency Spending examines the escalating costs of agency staff in the NHS (e.g. £3 billion in recent years), providing CPOs with data and strategies to reduce reliance on temporary staffing.
7. Digital transformation and skills gaps
- NHS Providers’ Digital Transformation Survey 2024: Challenges, Opportunities and Priorities for Trust Leaders details digital adoption and skills gaps, helping CPOs develop strategies to upskill staff for tools like electronic patient records and other healthcare technologies.
