Thank you for contacting me about workforce planning and staffing in the NHS.
Our NHS relies on effective workforce planning to ensure we can meet the health and care needs of local communities and I applaud the dedication of healthcare workers across a range of professions.
Latest data for September 2022 show almost 1.4 million full time equivalent staff working across NHS hospital trusts and primary care in England. Within this workforce there are a record number of over 168,000 full time equivalent doctors across hospitals and general practice. This includes over 131,000 in NHS hospitals and over 37,000 in general practice. There is also a record number of over 333,000 nurses across the NHS, with over 316,000 working in NHS hospitals and over 16,000 across primary care.
There are 56% more doctors, nurses and other patient care staff working in general practice in Calder Valley since 2019. This includes roles such as dispensers, health care assistants, phlebotomists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, therapists and others. More details here.
I stood on a manifesto that promised to deliver effective and sustainable workforce planning in our NHS. The Government is on track to deliver its manifesto commitment of 26,000 more primary care staff to help improve patient access to appointments and reduce the Covid-19 backlogs. There were over 18,200 more people working in general practice in March 2022 compared to March 2019, and nearly 30,000 overall. Separately, there are over 34,170 more doctors and over 44,820 more nurses working in the NHS since 2010 - a record number of staff.
There are over 32,000 more nurses now than there were in September 2019, well on the way to meeting the Government’s commitment of 50,000 more nurses across hospital and general practice settings by March 2024. Over the last three years, this speed of growth in nursing numbers is faster than it has been since 2009 when current recording began.
Other key NHS hospital workforce groups are also continuing to grow. For example, there are now almost 18,000 professionally qualified ambulance staff, 12 per cent more than in 2019 and over 81,000 allied health professionals, 20 per cent more than 2019. These staff work hand in hand with the over 380,000 clinical support staff who are so vital to the effective delivery of patient care.
The Government is continuing to deliver and expand its commitments to ensure that NHS vacancies are filled as quickly as possible and by the most suitable candidates. Over recent months, the Government has allocated £500 million of investment in the adult social care workforce to transform jobs in the sector. This will help to provide people with a rewarding career in social care, offering opportunities to develop and progress and boosting the recruitment and retention of staff.
Furthermore, on 12 August, NHS England set out a package of measures to boost recruitment to the NHS ahead of the busy winter period. This included provisions to increase the number of NHS 111 call handlers to 4,800 and the number of NHS 999 call handlers to 2,500. It also included plans to maximise recruitment of new staff in primary care across the winter, including care co-ordinators and social prescribing link workers.
On 22 September 2022, the Government published its Our Plan for Patients. As part of this strategy, the Government committed to changing elements of the NHS pension scheme to help retain doctors, nurses and other senior NHS staff, to increase capacity. Building on actions set out in Our Plan for Patients, the Government has now launched a consultation on changes to the NHS Pension Scheme, to retain experienced NHS clinicians and remove the barriers to staff returning from retirement, such as the 20,000 former NHS staff who returned to support the NHS at the height of the pandemic.
The Government has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan for the NHS workforce for the next 15 years. This will look at the mix and number of staff required across all parts of the country and will set out the actions and reforms that will be needed to reduce supply gaps and improve retention. The Government has committed to independently verifying this report, and publishing it in 2023.
The introduction of the Health and Care visa in August 2020 made it quicker and cheaper for regulated health and care professionals to secure their visa to work in the Health and Care sector. Furthermore, a number of Health and Care occupations, such as senior care workers, nurses and auxiliary nurses and assistants, feature on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). I am glad that, in December 2021 the Government accepted recommendations that care workers be added to the SOL, making them eligible for the Health and Care Visa. This change came into force on 15 February 2022 and is making it easier for care employers to recruit eligible workers to reduce any staff shortages through fast-track processing and reduced visa fees.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Craig Whittaker MP
January 2023