Three-quarters of NHS staff are women. This includes 90 per cent of nurses and midwives, 48 per cent of all doctors and more than half of all doctors aged under 50. Most of these women will have children at some point during their careers. Even before the pandemic, the NHS was experiencing high vacancy rates and the government has a target of increasing the supply of nurses by 50,000 by 2025. Attracting and retaining women who have young children, or are planning to have children, will be an important part of addressing current staff shortages. This briefing uses payroll records from NHS England to examine the rates of retention and contracted working hours of nurses/midwives and doctors/dentists returning from maternity leave. This question is important for reasons of both efficiency and gender equality, to address widespread staffing shortages, to ensure the best use of talent, and to promote equal opportunities in medical and nursing careers. Employment practices in the NHS also have implications for the wider labour market, as the NHS is the largest single employer in England. The organisation therefore often acts as a competitor employer and helps shape broader employment norms.