Responding to the first NHS long-term workforce plan, in 2023, the King’s Fund thinktank described staff shortages and gaps in England as amounting to a “deeply entrenched crisis”. That document was meant to be the start of something. Under the Conservatives, parliament rejected the idea that NHS England’s jobs strategy should be subject to independent scrutiny. But given the initial estimate of a 260,000 shortfall in England’s health workforce (including doctors and nurses), there was a promise to review the position in two years.
That date is fast approaching. Fixing the workforce should be among the big themes of Labour’s 10-year plan for the health service, when it is published in June. Attention in recent weeks has focused on the centre, following the announcement that NHS England would be scrapped and its functions, along with around half of its 15,000 staff, brought back inhouse to the Department of Health and Social Care. Manoeuvring at the highest level continues, with Sir Chris Whitty filling the role of permanent secretary on an interim basis. But what of the changes on the frontline that will be needed if the government is to succeed?
