The NHS is facing the worst workforce crisis in its history. Vacancies are high and retaining staff is getting more difficult. Though medical schools have increased their student intake in recent years, poor working conditions and ongoing pay disputes continue to threaten the functioning of the health service. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay have knocked their heads together and concocted a plan in a bid to save the NHS. The question is: will it actually work?
More medical school places, shorter degrees, apprenticeships for doctors and increased job flexibility are all on the table as part of the Tories’ blueprint. But while NHS chief Amanda Pritchard has heralded the government announcement as being a ‘historic’ moment for the health service, it hasn’t impressed everyone else quite as much.
Healthcare providers elsewhere are unsubtly using NHS dissatisfaction to their advantage
The 2031 target set out in the plan includes increasing medical school places to 15,000 a year, but there is uncertainty about how these doctors will be retained in the service on completion of their degrees.
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