Today marks a landmark moment – the first comprehensive long-term strategy for the NHS workforce, and the first step to making the health service’s staffing sustainable.
The Long Term Workforce Plan, which commits an extra £2.4bn towards additional education and training places for clinical staff, comes after years of chronic NHS labour shortages, as well as existing staff being stretched thinly. Indeed, new analysis by the King’s Fund shows just how badly a new approach is needed. We compared the UK with international healthcare systems and found that the UK has strikingly low levels of key clinical staff, with fewer doctors and nurses per head than most of its peers.
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