These are the worst of times for the NHS in England. Public satisfaction is at its lowest level since it started to be measured 40 years ago. Staff morale is shattered, with retention a growing problem. Currently there are more than 112,000 vacancies in a workforce of 1.26 million full-time equivalents. Waiting lists have reached record levels. Against this alarming backdrop – particularly for anyone in need of treatment – the workforce plan launched by the prime minister on Friday is welcome as well as overdue. But it should not be mistaken for a solution.
The plan, which includes a promise to spend £2.4bn over five years, is the fulfilment of a pledge made by Jeremy Hunt when he was the health secretary in 2017. The need for a strategy to train enough staff to care for an ageing population was clear then. But centralised workforce planning does not sit well with a Conservative party that trusts markets over public administrators. Repeatedly, and in the face of a mounting crisis, ministers refused to act.
