News / Workforce plan ‘not just a numbers game’

In a session with the Commons Health and Social Care Committee, the health and social care secretary repeated his comments that he was confident – ‘8 or 9 out of 10’ – that the long awaited workforce plan would be published by the NHS birthday celebrations in early July. But he said the work was complex and it was right to take the time to get it right.

‘A huge amount of work has gone into the long-term workforce plan,’ he said. ‘It is an extremely important document and it would be a mistake to see it simply as a question of numbers.’ While he acknowledged there was a consensus around the need to grow the domestic workforce, alongside a continuing role for international recruitment, there were a number of other issues that had to be taken into account.

‘We need to think about the wider skills mix – how do we have more career progression between roles,’ Mr Barclay said, highlighting the recent pharmacy first strategy to make more use of pharmacy skills and take pressure off other parts of the NHS. He also highlighted the important role that vocational training could play for trusts in hard-to-recruit areas. ‘The more that we can have apprenticeships and grow our own, I think that is hugely desirable and should be a key part of the long-term workforce plan,’ he told the committee.

The role of technology also had to be factored in – both in terms of how it could free-up existing staff time and how it might change patient pathways. ‘So there are a lot of opportunities within the plan above simply a question of a numbers game,’ he said.

He insisted that the funding implications of the workforce plan were also complex. Apart from the direct funding needed, for example, for training places, there could be implications for capital. This could be needed to support training institutions, but also, for example, to expand primary care facilities if there is an increase in GP numbers. The pay bill would also increase with a boost in numbers. ‘That is why it is so complex,’ he said.