NHS Long Term Workforce Plan – our comment on the detail

Commenting on the detail of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, Anita Charlesworth, Director of the REAL Centre at the Health Foundation, said: 

‘We welcome the government's commitment to funding the expansion of workforce training in the NHS.  

'There is now a cross-party consensus on the scale of the staffing increases the NHS needs but this must be maintained over the long-term and extended to include the capital investment required to give the NHS the modern buildings, equipment, and new technology it desperately needs to make the plan work. We also call on all the parties to commit to legislating to updating the projections underlying the plan every two years.

‘Today’s plan is rightly ambitious, but it will be a huge challenge to implement, especially with services under so much pressure and management capacity severely stretched. It will take many years to train the new doctors and nurses and for patients to see the benefits of this, so retaining existing staff is essential – the NHS must be an attractive place to work today, not just in the future.’

Media contact

Ash Singleton
ash.singleton@health.org.uk
020 7257 8041