A scheme to support the recruitment and retention of allied health professionals to hard to fill posts in rural areas

Background: This article follows on from the previous issue, where the Allied Health Professions (AHP) Support and Development Scheme was introduced. The scheme was put in place in order to aid in the recruitment, retention and career development of Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) in hard to fill posts in NHSScotland.

Contents: The last issue looked at how the scheme developed newly qualified practitioners’ skills. This article looks at the scheme’s impact on recruitment and retention. Financial incentives were provided for both the teams with hard to fill posts and the individuals who were recruited to support the recruitment, retention and career development of AHPs. The evaluation of the scheme aimed to assess the impact on recruitment, retention, career development and successful outcomes for individuals and teams of AHPs in NHSScotland. The scheme was found to have had a positive impact on recruitment and retention of AHPs to hard to fill posts.

Conclusions: Overall, 75% of managers had successfully recruited new team members as a result of the scheme. However the majority of new recruits (68%) reported that the financial incentive had not influenced their decision to accept the posts. Many of these recruits had remained in post and their appointment was reported to have had a positive impact on service provision. Overall the majority of AHPs (89%) would recommend the scheme to other teams with hard to fill posts.