The government and NHS will unveil a refreshed workforce plan in the summer with a focus on shifting care from hospitals and into the community, as work to support NHS recovery continues.
Lord Darzi’s report laid bare the systemic issues which have gripped the NHS for years and led to poorer experiences for patients and staff. Too much care is being delivered in hospitals because of historic underinvestment in the community.
Recent data show:
- there are almost 16% fewer fully qualified GPs in the UK than other high-income countries relative to our population
- the number of nurses working in the community fell by at least 5% between 2009 and 2023
- a reduction of nearly 20% in the number of health visitors - who can be crucial to development in the first 5 years of a child’s life - between 2019 and 2023
- the number of mental health nurses has just returned to its 2010 level
The existing workforce plan would increase hospital consultants by 49%, but the equivalent rise in fully qualified GPs would have been just 4% between 2021/22 and 2036/37.
Through a refreshed workforce plan, alongside reform and investment, the government is taking the action needed to ensure it has the right workforce in the right place at the right time to deliver its 10 Year Health Plan and get the NHS back on its feet to deliver world-class care.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Lord Darzi diagnosed the dire state of the NHS, including that too many people end up in hospital because there aren’t the resources in the community to reach patients earlier. Our 10 Year Health Plan will deliver three big shifts in the focus of healthcare: from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. We will refresh the NHS workforce plan to fit the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, so the NHS has the staff it needs to treat patients on time again.”
Through the government’s Plan for Change, an unrelenting approach is being taken to deliver an NHS fit for the future as part of a decade of national renewal. The Chancellor’s first budget invested almost £26 billion of funding this year and next for the health system to address critical shortages and cut waiting lists, including delivering an extra 40,000 appointments.
Since July, significant progress has already been made by the government on its mission to deliver an NHS fit for the future and to support the workforce, putting funding in place to employ more GPs, ending devastating resident doctor strikes within its first few months, and sending crack teams of top clinicians into hospitals with high waiting lists.
Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of NHS England, said: “The NHS is nothing without our incredible staff and having a sustainable workforce is a key building block for an NHS fit for the future - that’s why we committed to update the plan regularly so that it reflects the changing and growing needs of patients. While the NHS is delivering more care to patients in the community, with the expansion of virtual wards, community diagnostic centres and neighbourhood hubs, part of our longer-term goal is delivering even more care out of hospitals, and we’ll work closely with the government to refresh the workforce plan, alongside the upcoming 10 Year Health Plan.”
The expansion of the hospital workforce has come at the expense of other care settings and the proportion of the total NHS budget dedicated to acute hospitals has continued to rise, while the proportion of the NHS budget going to primary care has fallen by a quarter in just over a decade - from 24% in 2009 to just 18% by 2021. Despite this significant flow of resources into hospitals, output has not risen at nearly the same rate and NHS productivity has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
The 10 Year Health Plan is due out next spring. Following that, the workforce plan, which is due to be revised every 2 years, will be refreshed next summer.