Addressing Staff Turnover and Knowledge Retention in the Health & Social Care Sector: How Whole Team Training Can Help

In the UK care sector, staff turnover remains a significant challenge, with around 30% of employees leaving their roles annually. This revolving door of staff not only impacts operational continuity but also creates critical gaps in skills and knowledge, directly affecting patient safety and the quality of care provided.

The impact of staff turnover on patient safety

Frequent staff changes disrupt the continuity of care and can result in the loss of vital knowledge, particularly in specialised areas such as dysphagia management. Dysphagia – difficulty swallowing – requires precise and consistent care to prevent choking, malnutrition, aspiration pneumonia and in the worst cases, unnecessary deaths. When experienced staff leave, their expertise often goes with them, leaving teams underprepared to address such complex conditions.

We’ve also found it is common practice for care settings to nominate subject matter ‘Champions’ for specific training, along with select senior staff members. While this approach can initially appear effective, it can have its drawbacks. When those trained leave their roles, the knowledge base within the organisation can rapidly erode, creating gaps in care and increasing the risks of late or misdiagnosis and compounds other safety concerns.

This can be exacerbated further as access to Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) teams can be limited across settings. Together, this creates an important argument for adopting a whole-team approach to training.

“Despite its prevalence, dysphagia is often underdiagnosed due to insufficient training across all staff levels, leading to preventable suffering and increased healthcare costs,” said Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England in our recent white paper on dysphagia management. “The white paper highlights the urgent need for stronger regulation and a comprehensive, whole-team approach to training and knowledge-sharing to address these gaps and improve patient outcomes. Every care team member should be equipped to recognise the symptoms of dysphagia and confidently recommend appropriate next steps. Without empowering entire teams, we risk exacerbating issues like malnutrition and, in some cases, avoidable deaths.”

Recruitment challenges in the care sector

Another layer to this issue is the recruitment process. It raises the question: Are recruitment agencies equipped to identify and place candidates with the specialist skills required in many of our care settings? In our experience, recruitment businesses can lack an understanding of the unique demands of the sector, which can lead to mismatches between candidates and roles.

There is a growing argument for recruitment agencies to undergo specialist training themselves, to ensure they are better positioned to assess the specific skills and attributes needed in care environments. As Care England’s Professor Martin Green OBE has previously noted, “Investing in workforce development is key to ensuring sustainability and quality in the care sector.”

The solution: Sustained, whole team training

To address these challenges, organisations must adopt a whole team approach to training. This means moving beyond training select individuals and ensuring that every team member – from frontline carers to kitchen staff – receive consistent, high quality, specialist training. For dysphagia management, this ensures that every staff member not only understands the signs of dysphagia and how to refer or make a management plan, but they also understand the importance of texture modified diets, fluid thickening, and preparing individualised meal plans for a better dining experience.

Whole team training helps create a culture of shared responsibility and reduces reliance on individual champions. It empowers all staff to confidently address issues as they arise, improving safety, enhancing the quality of care, and ultimately boosting staff retention through a happier, collaborative workforce.

Explore how whole team training can transform dysphagia care in your organisation

Download the white paper we’ve developed in collaboration with Care England to learn how sustained training strategies using validated, up to date resources can address the challenges of staff turnover and ensure better outcomes for residents.

Download the White Paper Now

By prioritising workforce development and inclusive training strategies, care providers can mitigate the impact of staff turnover, improve care quality and create safer environments for residents.

Invest in your most valuable resource: your people, and help provide better care to those most vulnerable in our communities.

For further information on our award-winning training bundles incorporating the Eating, Drinking & Swallowing Competency Framework and Catering for Dysphagia Diets and IDDSI, get in touch: info@oakhouse-kitchen.com

Explore more on: oakhouse-kitchen.com