NHS Long Term Workforce Plan 2023

By significantly expanding domestic education, training and recruitment, we will have more doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals working in the NHS. The plan says it will:

• double the number of undergraduate medical school training places to 15,000 by 2031/32 with more medical school places in areas with the greatest shortages to level up training
• increase the number of GP training places by 50 per cent to 6,000 by 2031/32
• almost double the number of adult nurse training places by 2031, with 24,000 more nurse and midwife training places a year by 2031/32
• increase the number of advanced practitioners, independent prescribers, and allied health professionals (AHPs) acting as senior decision-makers in appropriate settings
• increase the proportion of training for clinical staff through apprenticeship routes by 2030
• launch a new medical degree apprenticeship
• expand dentistry places and consider how to incentivise dentists to offer more work to the NHS
• train more NHS staff domestically, reducing the reliance on international recruitment. 

By improving culture, leadership, and wellbeing, we will ensure fewer staff leave the NHS over the next 15 years. The plans says it will: 

• build on the actions from the NHS People Plan, to make the NHS People Promise a reality for our staff
• work to deliver the actions set out in the NHS equality, diversity and inclusion plan
• back plans to improve flexible opportunities for prospective retirees and work with government to deliver the actions needed to modernise the NHS pension scheme
• ensure NHS organisations across the country, from day one of employment offer people flexible working and the best possible start to an NHS career
• commit to ongoing national funding for continuing professional development for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals, so NHS staff are supported to meet their full potential
• reform how the NHS recruits staff, so that we offer a much better candidate experience, and support local jobs.

Working differently means staff can spend more time with patients, harnesses digital innovations and enables new and innovative ways of working. Training will be reformed, to give learners a better experience. The plan says it will: 

• take advantage of digital and technological innovations, such as artificial intellegence, speech recognition, robotic process automation and remote monitoring to support the NHS workforce
• focus on expanding enhanced, advanced and associate roles to offer modernised careers, with a stronger emphasis on the generalist skills needed to care for patients with multi-morbidities, frailty or mental health needs
• encourage and support clinically-led work to consider how to make best use of new roles in clinical teams as they are brought on stream, to ensure they are a valued part of the wider multidisciplinary team
• explore measures such as tie ins to encourage dentists to spend a proportion of their time delivering NHS care
• work with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), General Medical Council (GMC) and others to reform education and training that learners have a good experience of training that prepares them for work in the NHS
• work with medical schools and the GMC to introduce four-year degree programmes and pilot a medical internship programme which could shorten undergraduate training time.