Today, 30 June 2023, the much anticipated NHS Long Term Workforce Plan was published. This plan sets out how the NHS will address existing vacancies and meet the challenge of rising demand for healthcare by increasing recruitment and retention of staff over the next 15 years. The plan describes the significant investment in training and upskilling the workforce that will be needed to meet current needs and an ageing population. It also highlights new ways of working, which will make greater use of technology.
The BGS has long been calling for a strategic, system-wide workforce plan, as can be seen in our recent report ‘The case for more geriatricians’ and in our BGS Blueprint. Almost 12 million people in the UK are of pensionable age and this is projected to rise to over 15 million by 2045. Currently, people aged 65 and over account for over 40% of hospital admissions and occupy around two-thirds of hospital inpatient beds. Developing an integrated Workforce Plan with adequate specialist and generalist multidisciplinary capacity and the skill mix to care for older people with complex needs was a key recommendation from our Blueprint report. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan establishes the first long-term comprehensive strategy for the workforce, and offers a crucial first step in overcoming the current workforce crisis.
Professor Adam Gordon, President of the British Geriatrics Society, said:
“We have waited a long time for the publication of this workforce plan and we are pleased that there is much in it to welcome. Older people are the biggest user group of NHS services, many of whom live with frailty and multiple long-term conditions. Nearly 50% of the population over 85 live with frailty, and it costs healthcare systems £5.8 billion a year. We are pleased to see the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan acknowledge that the growing numbers of people with frailty and multimorbidity will have significant implications for the skills and competencies required by NHS staff.
“We note that much of the detail is yet to be worked out, including the number of increased training places per medical specialty. It is imperative that we see an increase in training places for geriatric medicine, as called for in our recent report ‘The Case for More Geriatricians’. More geriatricians will be needed to provide clinical care and expert leadership in older people’s healthcare. We look forward to working with NHS England and the Government on this level of detail.
“Increasing the number of doctors specialising in geriatric medicine is just one element of resolving the workforce crisis. This plan also recognises the role of multidisciplinary teams in providing care across all settings, and we welcome this as it is a fundamental part of good-quality joined-up healthcare for older people. Recruitment, retention, support and development of the wider nursing and AHP workforce will be essential to ensure proper staffing across the whole continuum of care, from prevention through to end of life.
“In addition to the need for specialists delivering healthcare for older people, everyone working within the NHS needs to know how to support care for older people who have complex needs. Regardless of specialty, most healthcare professionals will work with older people more than with any other age group. It is essential that all have the skills and knowledge to care for people with frailty, dementia, cognitive impairment and other conditions that commonly occur with age, alongside their own specialty.
“It is heartening to see this plan commit to exploring new roles and ways of training and recruiting people into the NHS, given the scale of the current workforce shortages. It will however be important to ensure that all career pathways include the skills needed to care for an ageing population. We would be concerned if any move to shorten training times resulted in healthcare professionals having less time exposed to older people’s healthcare as we believe this would pose a risk to patient safety.
“While older people are the biggest group using the NHS, they are also the biggest users of social care services. This plan acknowledges that the NHS does not exist in a vacuum - but it does not include the social care workforce. Without addressing the capacity crisis within social care, the impact of this NHS workforce plan will be weakened. Too many older people are stuck in hospital, unable to be discharged due to a lack of social care. We look forward to the Government delivering on its commitment to reform the social care system.
“The long-term nature of this plan is of course very welcome, ensuring that the NHS is well-resourced for years to come. However, there are challenges facing the NHS right now that cannot be ignored. Industrial action on pay, terms and conditions continues across a number of professional groups. In addition, the NHS has just faced the worst winter in its history and, as we begin the second half of the year, we fear that the current workforce shortages will risk next winter being equally challenging for the health and care system. We look to the Government for speedy resolution on these issues, and urge it not to ignore the present while it plans for the future.”
