Health Education England (HEE) has been commissioned by the Minister of State for Care, Helen Whately, to look at the future of the health and social care workforce.
HEE will shortly issue a call for evidence that can help it understand what is driving demand for health and care services and what that means for supply. It will use what it learns to review, renew and update Framework 15, published in 2014.
Dr Cathryn Edwards, RCP registrar, said: “We are pleased that HEE has been commissioned by the government to assess the long term capacity we need in the health and social care workforce. Expanding our workforce, including doubling the number of medical school places, will be the key to delivering responsive patient care in the coming years.
“The RCP looks forward to contributing to the forthcoming call for evidence to highlight why we need to urgently expand our health and care workforce. It is imperative that HEE’s updated strategic framework, and the assumptions behind it, are publicly available so all stakeholders can understand the key factors affecting workforce planning.
“But to ensure continuing transparency and accountability on workforce needs and projections beyond this work, it is vital that regular independent assessments of future staffing needs are published, whether by HEE or another body. Government should then be required to respond to those projections with a plan for what it will do.
“We hope that provisions for regular published assessments of future health and care workforce needs, which have been advocated for widely in the health sector, are included within the health and care bill.”
- HEE Long-Term Strategic Framework for Health and Social Care Workforce Planning
- Senior health leaders call for the Health and Care Bill to include independent assessments of future staffing needs
- RCP view on NHS workforce planning: the case for transparency and accountability
- Double or quits: the RCP blueprint for expanding medical school places
