Confed and national bodies writes to the Prime Minister to urgently address the undersupply of NHS staff

As the NHS reviews its priorities after the impact of the pandemic, our members across all parts of the NHS workforce are clear that action to address the chronic undersupply of NHS staff, particularly in our degree level professions, is urgently required.

The vacancies we see across services are putting strain and stress on teams within NHS services. This was the case before the pandemic but is thrown into stark relief by the experience of the last 12 months and there is a very real risk that these vacancies are the greatest threat to the retention of our people.

This letter to the Prime Minister from the NHS Confederation, NHS Providers, the BMA, the Royal College of Nursing, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Unison calls on the government to make addressing the chronic undersupply of NHS staff a priority and underlines the NHS People Plan has yet to properly address the following key questions:

• What the workforce requirements for delivering the NHS Long Term Plan are in each geography within the NHS.
• The areas of greatest risk and greatest need across the NHS workforce both in terms of service delivery and roles.
• The educational, training and infrastructure costs of increasing supply.
• The timescales for increasing supply, and the respective roles of international and domestic markets.