Introducing the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan

NHS England publishes first-ever NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan

Ahead of the NHS’s 75th birthday later this week, NHS England has today released the first-ever NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan.

The NHS is nothing without its workforce and this plan will deliver the biggest increase in training numbers in our 75-year history. By training record numbers of staff, the Long-Term Workforce Plan aims to address the gaps in the current workforce and meet the challenge of a growing and ageing population.

Increasing recruitment is not enough on its own, so the pln also sets out how the NHS will retain more staff and use tech to free them up to do what they do best: care for patients.

The Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the path to:

• double medical school training places to 15,000 by 2031, with more places in areas with the greatest shortages
• increase the number of GP training places by 50% to 6,000 by 2031
• almost double the number of adult nurse training places by 2031, with 24,000 more nurse and midwife training places a year by 2031.

Taken with retention measures, the NHS Plan could mean the health service has at least an extra 60,000 doctors, 170,000 more nurses and 71,000 more allied health professionals in place by 2036/37.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said: “This is a truly historic day for the NHS in England – for 75 years, the extraordinary dedication, skill and compassion of NHS staff has been the backbone of the health service – and the publication of our first-ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan now gives us a once in a generation opportunity to put staffing on sustainable footing for the years to come.

“As we look to adapt to new and rising demand for health services globally, this long term blueprint is the first step in a major and much-needed expansion of our workforce to ensure we have the staff we need to deliver for patients.”

Click here to read the full NHS Workforce Plan.

Want to find out more about working in the NHS? Click here to complete the interactive NHS Careers Quiz.