To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the health and care workforce is able to meet growing patient demand.
Answered on
3 November 2022
The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan. The plan will consider the number of staff and the roles required and will set out the actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention. The Department is committed to deliver an additional 50,000 nurses by the end of this Parliament to ensure a sustainable long-term supply in future.
Since September 2020, all eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health profession students have received a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year. We have also funded an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places each year for domestic students in England.
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring there is sufficient workforce capacity to meet local care needs. To support local authorities and providers, we are launching a £15 million international recruitment fund and a new domestic national recruitment campaign in November. In addition, we have made care workers eligible for the Health and Care Visa and added these workers to the Shortage Occupation list.