London’s NHS needs a fully funded workforce strategy

The Government should accept a Lords amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill, which would require independently verified health and care workforce projections to be regularly published.

The London Assembly Health Committee has today written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid MP, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, on how to support London’s NHS workforce and address waiting times in the capital.

An investigation by the Committee into the indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which focused on waiting times for elective and outpatient treatment, heard that there is an urgent need for a fully funded workforce strategy to tackle these issues.

The House of Lords recently amended the Health and Social Care Bill currently going through Parliament to include a requirement on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to regularly publish independently verified health and care workforce projections.

The Health Committee is recommending that the Government accepts the amendment and that the Mayor also writes to the Secretary of State urging him to do so.

Chair of the Health Committee, Caroline Russell AM, said:

“It was concerning to hear during our investigation about workforce shortages across the NHS, including a shortage of at least 3,000 cancer nurses across the UK.

“Our expert witnesses told us loud and clear that there is an urgent need for a fully funded workforce strategy – with one guest referring to the absence of a national workforce plan as a ‘huge blind spot’.

“That is why the Health Committee is supporting a coalition of 100 health and care organisations, by urging the Government to support the Lords’ amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill.”