Unnecessary training wastes 100,000 days a year, says NHSE

Unnecessary “mandatory training” is wasting more than 100,000 days of NHS staff time every year, NHS England estimates.

This is largely because some refresher training is taking place more frequently than national rules require, according to a survey and analysis by the national body. 

Some staff groups are completing training which is either “not relevant or has limited benefit”, it said in a letter yesterday.

Doctors and others have long complained about the burden of mandatory training on their time, particularly resident doctors, alongside job pressures, pay and working conditions.

NHS England now wants to “optimise, rationalise and redesign statutory and mandatory training” to help reduce burden and improve staff experience, it said.

The letter to HR, nursing and medical directors said: “We forecast these actions will reduce the time burden on staff by up to 100,000 days each year with no material risk, with particular benefit to resident doctors (postgraduate doctors in training).

“Across the NHS in England, approximately 250,000 people go through new starter processes each year, and approximately 50 per cent of these are or were employed by another organisation.

“With statutory and mandatory training taking an average of one day to complete, the estimated saving of 100,000 days is considered conservative.”

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Source: HSJ, 15 November 2024