How can we plan the future NHS workforce with incomplete information? Discussions about the NHS workforce have been prominent in the current election campaign and arose during the recent health debate. The main parties have made various pledges about increasing the numbers of NHS staff. Conveniently round numbers such as ‘20,000 more nurses’ or ‘5,000 more GPs’ have hit the headlines, but is there the money to fund these roles or the eager trainees to fill them?
Before we get to those questions we need to think about whether we actually need more staff on this scale. All of the anecdotal evidence we’ve gathered on access problems and an increasing reliance on agency nurses suggests the answer is a very emphatic ‘Yes’. However, our recent report Workforce planning in the NHS demonstrates that we don’t know nearly enough about the numbers or nature of the workforce currently delivering NHS-commissioned services.
Before we get to those questions we need to think about whether we actually need more staff on this scale. All of the anecdotal evidence we’ve gathered on access problems and an increasing reliance on agency nurses suggests the answer is a very emphatic ‘Yes’. However, our recent report Workforce planning in the NHS demonstrates that we don’t know nearly enough about the numbers or nature of the workforce currently delivering NHS-commissioned services.
