Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 7
7
NHSE&I told us that the advent of COVID-19 meant that workforce planning over a horizon...
Conclusion
NHSE&I told us that the advent of COVID-19 meant that workforce planning over a horizon of three to four years was not currently possible, and at the moment the main focus of the system was on winter planning. It thought it would be possible to make a longer-term plan after winter, once the impacts of COVID-19 on service levels are clearer.11 Understanding how many nurses the NHS needs and where
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
2.1 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 2.2 The government agrees that the modelling will need to be updated in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, it cannot currently commit to when any such modelling will be complete and publishable as it is likely to be subject to substantive ongoing change as the COVID-19 outbreak develops. 2.3 The NHS Long Term Plan and People Plan described the longstanding shortages in nursing, as well as the pressure of continuing demand growth from a growing and ageing population and the expanding frontiers of medical science and innovation. 2.4 The government therefore committed to ensuring a substantial improvement in nurse staffing levels in England’s NHS by committing to the delivery of 50,000 more nurses, to tackle challenging vacancy levels seen in the NHS, continuing demand growth, and concerns about areas of longstanding unmet need. Nursing numbers have grown by over 13,000 WTEs over the past year.