Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR)

Experiences and employment factors for the international Health and Social Care workforce acting as informal carers: A qualitative evidence synthesis (QES)

Post-Brexit and COVID-19, the UK health and social care sector relies heavily on international recruitment. While the mapping review identifies organisational interventions for retention, this QES focuses on the specific challenges faced by these professionals when balancing employment with informal caregiving for family members. This specific circumstance has been labelled as “The Double Duty Caregiver”.

The aim of this review is to synthesise qualitative research evidence on:

1. The lived experiences of internationally trained professionals acting as informal carers while working in the UK.

2. The factors (facilitators and barriers) influencing their sustained employment and workforce participation.

3. Hypotheses regarding how informal care responsibilities impact staff retention and wellbeing.

Link to protocol (coming soon)

A systematic mapping review of organisational induction, support, and inclusion interventions to improve retention of internationally trained health and social care professionals

This mapping review will focus on interventions specifically developed for internationally trained health and social care professionals. Interventions of interest include induction, pastoral and professional support models. 

The aim of the systematic evidence map is to describe the type and volume of evidence for effectiveness of organisational interventions to improve staff retention and sustained participation of internationally trained health and social care professionals.

Link to protocol (coming soon)