A senior NHS official once told me that “workforce planning in the NHS is like astrology, but nowhere near as reliable”. Now that there is an emerging political consensus that the long-term solution to the NHS workforce crisis will require a better approach to planning, I am more optimistic about the future.
In the short term, the focus has to be on the retention of existing staff. The budget changes on pension rules may help, but the drain of NHS staff to other countries and the private sector is likely to continue unless action is taken. Your article (NHS doctors offered up to £5,000 to recruit colleagues for private hospitals, 17 March) highlights the threat from the private sector, which has long been subsidised by access to staff trained by the NHS at taxpayers’ expense.
