Workforce Voices brings together staff, researchers and system partners to understand real workforce challenges and co‑design practical, evidence‑informed solutions.
Over the past 18 months, we’ve carried out extensive scoping work to listen, learn from real‑world experience and better understand the conditions that shape everyday working life.
Our programme will include five research projects. One project is already underway, with four more currently in development. These projects continue to be shaped by ongoing conversations, and as they progress, we’ll share more information and invite colleagues to get involved.
If you’d like to hear more about these projects, please let us know by getting in touch via our enquiry form.
BRIDGE, Building Relationships and Interactions with co-Design for Greater Effectiveness at the Primary-Secondary Interface, will explore how communication across primary and secondary care shapes staff workload, relationships, and job satisfaction.
Our recent discussions have highlighted communication pressures, differing expectations between settings, and concerns about equity, workload distribution and digital accessibility raised through early engagement and evidence gathering. Through co‑design activities, the team aims to develop a small “toolbox” of practical, testable ideas aimed at strengthening communication, improving relational working, and supporting staff who operate across care boundaries.
The Future Oriented Reform of Generalist Education (FORGE) project examines how standalone General Internal Medicine (GIM) training is delivered across England and what this means for developing a confident, capable generalist workforce.
The team is exploring variation in training experiences, how trainees and supervisors perceive preparedness, and how training environments shape progression and career intentions. Surveys, interviews and case studies in GIM training sites will help build a clearer picture of what supports effective training and early career transitions.
REFRESH, Reducing Fatigue Risk, Enhancing Staff Health & performance, will focus on understanding and addressing fatigue among staff working in maternity services, including midwives, doctors and others.
Drawing on other industries and building on earlier participatory work, the team will work with staff to identify practical, locally achievable ways to mitigate fatigue. Placing staff at the centre, co-design workshops will empower maternity teams to develop their own fatigue-risk management strategies, driving safer working conditions, greater sustainability, and improved health and performance.
The EXPLORE project (Exploring the Local Organisation of Evolving Good Practice with the Neighbourhood Health Workforce) will look at how emerging neighbourhood models of integrated care shape and support the workforce.
Current work is considering national policy and guidance on how joined‑up services should operate, and further scoping work will identify opportunities to learn from a range of neighbourhood settings. The team will build a clearer understanding of how staff collaborate across sectors, how roles evolve within integrated teams, and what helps create effective, locally responsive models of care.
SIGNAL (Supporting Improvement in General practice: a New Approach to Leading workforce development) will explore the work, wellbeing and everyday pressures experienced by GP receptionists and administrative staff, whose essential contributions often go unrecognised.
The project aims to understand what helps these teams thrive in different practice settings and to work directly with staff to co‑design small, practical improvements that support their roles and development. This will draw on evidence review, data analysis and qualitative insight, alongside workshop activities with reception and admin staff.
