Improving recruitment and retention through joint posts

Project overview

Hospices all over the UK have been struggling to recruit and retain staff. Because Katharine House is a small hospice, it was particularly hard for them to attract new colleagues and give them development opportunities. Compton Care provided support to help overcome this problem, by recruiting for a joint post.

Outcomes

A Director of Care was recruited to work 4 days per week at Katharine House and 1 day at Compton Care. This enables the post holder to gain the experience and peer support of working in a larger hospice whilst enabling Katharine House to fill their vacancy.

Key facilitators 

Compton Care and Katharine House already have a memorandum of understanding and work together regularly, with some key administrative tasks such as payroll being carried out by Compton Care.

Because both hospices put money towards the new post, the salary was higher than Katharine House had previously been able to advertise. This made the post more attractive to applicants.

Challenges

Hospice funding has been variable over the last few years and individual hospices can sometimes experience financial problems. This needs to be taken into account when there is a long-term joint financial responsibility.

The shared post has been very successful and the hospices will discuss the feasibility of collaborating when new vacancies arise.