The cross-party Public Accounts Committee has heavily criticised the government’s 15 year workforce plan in a new report, in particular the lack of funding estimates and have “serious doubts” on how the plan will be achieved.
The committee notes that the “unfunded and uncosted” workforce plan, which promises to train thousands more GPs and double medical school places, risks placing the NHS under ‘unsustainable financial pressure’ in the future.
Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair of the committee, said: “The government and health system need to be alert to the serious doubts our report lays out around the workforce crisis, both the approach to tackling it now and the additional costs funding it in the future.”
Published in June 2023 after many years of waiting, the NHS long-term workforce plan received a mixed reception; relief that a workforce plan had at last been published, but criticism of its lack of detail.
The BMA at the time noted the lack of detail in the plan on measures to retain staff, improve the culture and how exactly funding would be provided:
“As ever, the devil will be in the detail – especially when it comes to funding.”
Details of how the plan will be funded and its full cost have failed to materialise. The MPs highlighted that although an additional £2.4 billion is to be provided to cover training costs for the first five years of the 15-year plan, there is no estimate of total additional running costs for the 260,000 to 360,000 extra workers the plan says will be needed by 2036-37.
Full story in The Lowdown, 10 November 2023