Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Accepted
Paragraph: 88
Insufficient NHS workforce modelling fails to account for impact of flexible working.
Recommendation
Managed well, the trend towards less-than-full-time and flexible working will be a powerful force in making the NHS a more attractive employer. However, in order to maintain standards of care for patients and offer truly flexible working to staff, the NHS will have to increase its overall staff headcount. It is impossible to say by how much or where this increase will have to take place because the Government’s workforce modelling has been wholly insufficient and has failed to consider the impact that less-than-full-time working is having on headcount in different specialties. What is needed, most of all, is a long-term workforce plan for the NHS, which takes the trend for less-than-full-time working into account when predicting the number of people that the NHS needs to train in each specialty in five, 10, and 20 years’ time.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government accepted the recommendation, stating they have commissioned the NHS England Long Term Workforce Plan and the HEE Framework 15 to provide independently-verified projections for 5, 10, and 15 years, committing to publishing it shortly.
Paragraph Reference:
88
Government Response
The government responded to this report on 21 April 2023. No passage in that response could be matched to this conclusion. Read the response document ↗