Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
Publish comprehensive NHS workforce strategy report with gap analysis and future projections.
Recommendation
Without full and frank transparency on projected workforce gaps, the public and NHS staff can have little confidence that the Government has grasped the depth of the workforce crisis, and little confidence in Framework 15 or the NHS workforce strategy. The Government must authorise arm’s length bodies to publish data on workforce gaps to restore public confidence, to increase transparency, and to facilitate parliamentary scrutiny of the Government’s plans. It must publish the full report of the NHS workforce strategy complete with gap analysis and workforce projections for the next five, 10, and 15 years for each profession by the end of 2022. (Paragraph 34) Recruitment in Health
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation for robust, long-term workforce planning and has commissioned the NHS England Long Term Workforce Plan, which will include independently-verified projections for 5, 10, and 15 years and is committed to publishing it shortly.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Recommendations 1 and 2 have been grouped together for an overarching response to the Committee. We agree this recommendation. We agree with the need for robust, long term, workforce planning and have commissioned two large pieces of work to support this ambition: the Health Education England (HEE) led long term strategic framework (Framework 15) for workforce and the NHS England Long Term Workforce Plan. The Long Term Workforce Plan will include independently-verified projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that will be needed in 5, 10 and 15 years’ time, taking full account of improvements in retention and productivity. We have committed to publishing the Long Term Workforce Plan shortly. HEE’s work in developing Framework 15 has already supported the development of the Long Term Workforce Plan. Framework 15 is designed to help ensure the workforce we invest in today is fit for the future and makes the most of every pound spent. This will be achieved through setting out clarity of service ambitions and shared, explicit assumptions about the likely impact of key drivers of change on both demand and supply for the health and regulated social care workforce. The development of HEE’s Framework 15 commenced with a large-scale public ‘Call for Evidence’ to identify the factors that may have the greatest impact on demand for the health and regulated social care sector over the next fifteen years, and what they might mean for workforce supply. HEE and partners subsequently held over a thousand different conversations, including deliberative events creating the time and space for people to develop a vision for the future and identify the workforce required to deliver it. In addition, HEE held a series of round tables to explore in more depth particular issues or perspectives, including the views of users, patients and people who need care and support, the NHS youth forum, students, learners and trainees in health and social care, plus science, technology, and industry experts. An advice and challenge expert group of leading international thinkers from a range of sectors and disciplines was established to challenge and inform our thinking. The details and reports from this comprehensive process of engagement are supplemented by a review of around two thousand documents and data sources, to ensure that any propositions are supported by an evidence-base and reflect wider views. All of the conversations, deliberations and evidence that HEE have collated during this process have enriched the thinking and ensured the robustness of the Framework 15 report, and in turn fed into development of the Long Term Workforce Plan. Drawing upon an extensive engagement process including a call for evidence, extensive deliberative events, roundtables and literature reviews, Framework 15 will set out: • where we are now • what people tell us they want from the future of care, work, and education • the likely impact of key drivers of change on future demand and supply such as demographics and disease, science, and technology • the shape of the workforce required to deliver our ambitions for 2037 • some actions we can all take now to bring the desired future closer • the big strategic choices that need to be made nationally if we are to realise a fundamentally different future vision rather than just roll forward the past