What might HEE's workforce strategy mean for doctors?

摘要

It may seem extraordinary but, in the NHS's entire history, we've never seen anything resembling a comprehensive, medium term workforce strategy. The NHS has tended to rely rather complacently on staff from overseas, while failing to consider the growing number of less than full time workers or the effects of new roles in the clinical workforce. Last week we learnt from NHS Improvement that around 100 000 NHS posts (one in 11) are unfilled, including 8% of medical posts. I therefore commend Health Education England's timeliness in publishing a draft workforce strategy, Facing the Facts, Shaping the Future, in December 2017. For this to have happened may have taken a huge workforce crisis-and a storm of protest from health professionals and in the media-but (some) credit where it's due.