Background Workforce retention is a critical issue for the ambulance service sector. 1 in 10 paramedics left their job in the 12 months to June 2022. Some 1 in 4 have said when surveyed that they would leave the role as soon as they could find another job. Working experiences of paramedics have been a longstanding concern. Compared to other staff groups, they have consistently lower levels of satisfaction, which have deteriorated further in the last year. In other healthcare sectors high staff turnover has been associated with reduced patient and staff safety. The study aims to understand workforce retention and its impact on safety.

Methods Retrospective routinely collected minimum dataset from the period of 1^st January 2015 to 30 September 2022 will be extracted from different databases from three NHS Ambulance Trusts across England and Wales. The minimum dataset will include but not limited to contact, incident, and staff related data. A prespecified anonymisation process will be applied to the extracted datasets creating a unique identifier which will be used to align datasets from different sources. The study methodology will revolve around the application of explorative data analysis (EDA) to better shape knowledge driven decision making using readily available large datasets from the NHS Ambulance Trusts. The nature of EDA is such that relationships between various unexplored variables within large datasets can be explored simultaneously rather than specifying number of variables at a given time and usually in isolation.

Results and conclusion Exploring contributory factors for workforce retention and how this affects patient and staff outcomes using data readily available will provide benefit to patients, staff, and the NHS.