See the latest information and briefing on workforce planning in the Health and Care Bill.
A coalition of 100 health and care organisations – including the Royal College of Physicians – calling for stronger provisions on workforce planning in the Health and Care Bill has issued a briefing ahead of report stage in the House of Lords in March 2022.
You can download a briefing and see the full list of organisations in the coalition at the bottom of the page.
Throughout the passage of the bill, the coalition has called for an amendment to mandate the regular publication of independent assessments of current and future workforce numbers. Government has so far dismissed amendments on workforce planning on the basis that ‘Framework 15’, commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), will look at the drivers of workforce supply and demand and ‘help to ensure’ we have the right numbers of staff. But Framework 15 was first published in 2014, last updated in 2017, and yet there is no agreed, publicly available assessment of workforce numbers now nor into the future.
The coalition of 100 organisations is encouraging peers to speak in support of and vote for the amendment to Clause 35 tabled by Baroness Cumberlege. The amendment would give a national, independent view of how many health and social care staff are needed to keep pace with projected patient demand over the next 5, 10 and 20 years. Without it, the bill will fail to address the biggest challenge facing the NHS and social care – staffing shortages and pressures.
