NHS workforce plan coming ‘this week’, Sunak promises

The long-awaited NHS workforce plan is finally coming this week, the prime minister has confirmed.

In an interview with the BBC, prime minister Rishi Sunak said the full, and much-delayed, plan for the NHS will be released this week. Nursing Times understands that it is likely to be published on Tuesday.

Mr Sunak described the changes in the plan as the “largest expansion in training and workforce” in the NHS’s history. The plan, expected to lay out the government’s strategy regarding recruitment, retention, and training of NHS staff, including nurses, was originally expected earlier this year before it was put back to 30 May.

Health and Social Care secretary Steve Barclay was repeatedly called on by nursing leaders, and other health experts, to release the plan as soon as possible. However, there was no sign of the plan on 30 May and no new date was given for its release at the time. But speaking on Sunday, Mr Sunak told the BBC that the plan would be coming “this week”.

Mr Sunak said: “We’re doing something no government has ever done, it will be one of the most significant announcements of the history of the NHS. “That is to make sure it has a long-term workforce plan so we can hire the doctors, GPs and nurses we need not just today but for years into the future so we can provide the care we need.”

Mr Sunak referred to training, in particular, as a headline feature of the plan. “What it will represent is the largest expansion in training and workforce in the NHS’s history,” he said.