See the latest information and briefing on workforce planning in the Health and Care Bill.
The coalition of over 100 health and care organisations behind the #StrengthInNumbers campaign has issued a briefing urging MPs to vote to keep the Lords’ amendment to the Health and Care Bill that will guarantee independent assessments of how many health and social care staff we need now and in future.
You can download a briefing and see the full list of organisations in the coalition at the bottom of the page.
Throughout the passage of the bill, a coalition of health and care organisations – including the Royal College of Physicians – has been calling for an amendment to mandate the regular publication of independent assessments of current and future workforce numbers in the Health and Care Bill.
Peers in the House of Lords voted to accept this amendment 171 to 119 on 3 March 2022, meaning it currently stands as part of the bill. The coalition, which has grown to over 100 organisations, is asking MPs to vote in favour of this Lords’ amendment when the bill returns to the House of Commons on 30 March 2022.
Clause 41 as amended by the Lords now provides a mechanism for attaining clarity about the number of health and social care staff we need now and in the future. Without this amendment, we will continue to fly blind on NHS and social care staffing.
Government has so far dismissed amendments on workforce planning on the basis that ‘Framework 15’, commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), will look at the drivers of workforce supply and demand and ‘help to ensure’ we have the right numbers of staff. But Framework 15 was first published in 2014, last updated in 2017, and yet there is no agreed, publicly available assessment of workforce numbers now nor into the future.
The DHSC has also commissioned NHS England (NHSE) to produce a ‘long-term workforce strategy’. But there is little detail on whether it will cover both health and social care professions, what time-period it will span, whether it will be regularly refreshed or, crucially, if it will include numbers of staff needed based on population demand.
Regular, independent public workforce projection data will not solve the workforce crisis. But a collective national picture of the health and care staff numbers needed now and in future to meet demand will provide the strongest foundations to take long-term strategic decisions about funding, regional and specialty shortages and skill mix. We hope progress will be made on regular workforce projections given the strong cross-party and sector support.
#StrengthInNumbers