The Nuffield Trust, Health Foundation and King’s Fund have jointly suggested that the NHS Bill put in place independent projections of how many health and social care staff will be in place in the future.

Nigel Edwards, Richard Murray and Anita Charlesworth, the leaders of the three organisations, have written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Jeremy Hunt, chair of the Health Select Committee, arguing that long term action is needed to avoid the workforce shortages that bedevilled the pandemic response happening again.

They stress that the upcoming NHS Bill could help support this by setting up a system of annual, independent projections of how many health and social care staff are needed, and how many will actually come forwards.

The Nuffield Trust, Health Foundation and King’s Fund say that the Health Secretary should hold responsibility for the publication of annual independently verified projections of the future supply of social care workforce in England, compared with the projected demand in England over a 15-year period, consistent with long-term OBR projections on adult social care spending.