At the core of effective healthcare delivery and optimal patient care lies a well organised and healthy workforce. 

We investigate how healthcare teams can be structured and supported to deliver better outcomes for both patients and staff—particularly crucial in today's global healthcare worker shortage. 

Research areas

We explore three interconnected areas:

• Workforce Planning and Deployment 

We develop models and tools to predict how many nurses are needed at the unit and service level, helping healthcare organisations using their valuable human resources more efficiently. These models are informed by our groundbreaking research on safe staffing, with a collection of studies exploring associations between staffing configurations (size, skill mix, shift patterns) and outcomes for patients, staff and the organisation.

• Staff Wellbeing and Retention 

Acknowledging that there is no patient safety without staff wellbeing, we look at ways to create health systems that prioritise their staff wellbeing, creating work environments where people want to join and stay.

• Cultural and Values-Based Workforce Configuration 

We consider how professional values and workplace culture influence how teams work best together.

Our Approach

Our interdisciplinary team brings together expertise from nursing, midwifery, health services research, computer sciences, sociology, economics, psychology, mathematics, and operational research. 

This diversity allows us to apply both quantitative and qualitative methods, including:

• analysis of large healthcare datasets
• national surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews, and observing how healthcare teams function
• data science techniques, operational research and mathematical modelling
• evidence synthesis and implementation science

Our Impact

Our findings directly inform healthcare practice across various settings, including:

• acute care hospitals
• mental health services
• maternity care and community hospitals

Our work has shaped the NHS Long Term Workforce plan, and our findings motivated change by providing core evidence for: 

• global policy (World Health Organisation, International Council of Nursing)
• legislation (Wales, Scotland)
• development of safe-staffing guidelines in the UK (NHS England, and National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence – NICE)