As workforce gaps in the NHS, and other healthcare systems around the world widen, the need to improve staff retention has become an ever more pressing concern. Yet work-life balance issues continue to drive staff away from the service.

What is the imperative to get flexible working right, and what can be done to remove the barriers facing healthcare workers seeking to change the way they work?

Joining us in the discussion are;Kamran Abbasi, editor in chief of The BMJRachel Hutchings, fellow at the Nuffield TrustSarah Sweeney, interim chief executive, National VoicesFarzana Hussain, a GP in Newham, LondonThea Stein, chief executive of Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

The report that Rachel Hutchings has authors is summaried in a BMJ feature - Challenges of combining a career in surgery with parenting https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p449