This month we have been commemorating 75 years of the NHS, the first universal health system in the world to be available to all, free at the point of delivery. Most Britons were born in an NHS hospital, and nearly everyone living in the UK has benefited at one time or another from the service, be that through A&E at a moment of crisis, a visit to a GP surgery or hospital for specific issues or check-ups, or – more recently – a lifesaving Covid vaccination. It is one of the institutions we treasure most as a nation.
However, the NHS is under pressure like never before in its history. Things have changed drastically since its inception, and in some cases in unforeseen ways. There are no easy or cheap fixes. At the heart of the crisis is a severe workforce shortage, with 112,000 vacancies in England, and a key challenge is the need to train more people more quickly to the same very high standard. The UK produces fewer health professionals per head than most of its OECD counterparts and around half of all new doctors and nurses joining the NHS have been educated abroad. The long-awaited publication of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan last week – which heralded the “biggest workforce training expansion” in the history of NHS – is long overdue and frankly couldn’t come soon enough.
Universities up and down the country are keen to work as closely as possible with the Government and NHS to deliver on the once-in-a-generation plan. All too often education providers are excluded from workforce planning at the national, regional, and local levels, yet they are uniquely placed to advise on both issues and solutions. Collectively, University Alliance and the London Higher Health and Medicine Groups educate 44% of nurses and midwives, 39% of all allied health professionals and 19% of doctors and dentists in England. The last three years have witnessed a steady expansion of our provision across the board, with a significant increase in nursing to help meet the Government’s 50% manifesto target.
