NHS leaders have voiced concerns that the continued delay in the publication by the Government of an NHS workforce plan is leaving the NHS in limbo.

Over the weekend, the NHS Confederation wrote to the Prime Minister as part of a group of 40 health organisations calling for more progress after delays on the publication of the plan. It was originally scheduled to be published in spring last year and there is still no sign of a date, amid fears that mounting costs are preventing the Government, and the Treasury in particular, from giving it the final green light.

The Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, Matthew Taylor, highlighted the increased pressures put on current NHS staff as a result of workforce shortages and an inability to address waiting times for diagnoses and treatment. That is thrown into sharp focus in the context of cancer wait times. NHS data released each month shows a deteriorating situation and, although the pandemic exacerbated it, the statistics show that they were getting worse before that. Clinical leaders from a number of major clinical bodies have written to the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, to highlight their concerns about a critical lack of capacity within oncology departments. Despite more treatments being made available, a lack of investment to increase staff levels means they are failing to keep pace. That situation is set against a backdrop of warnings of a tsunami of elderly cancer patients which could overwhelm the NHS.

Many NHS Trusts are already focusing on recruiting and retaining more staff.Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, for example, works with schools to encourage young people to consider alternative routes into new careers as well as creating apprenticeships for school leavers and existing staff. The latter are also offered clear career pathways and fair progression opportunities plus mentoring, coaching and training. South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust works with universities, including the University of Worcester and the University of Derby, liaising with them to open up access to opportunities for their graduates. It offers volunteering opportunities to members of its local community which can serve as launchpads into paid careers. It also runs an array of programmes to encourage and enable progression, targeting the factors which can hinder it, including financial problems, disability or homelessness.