With the latest UCAS data showing applications are down for medicine, nursing and midwifery courses, leaders from the higher education sector are calling for a new task force to effectively deliver NHS England’s Long-Term Workforce Plan.
In a jointly-written letter sent to the Secretaries of State for Education and Health, a coalition of university mission groups (universities who share goals and characteristics) and educators have called on the government to convene a new ministerial task force to ensure greater collaboration between relevant government departments, the NHS, and healthcare educators on the ground.
The letter was co-written and signed by the chief executives of University Alliance, the Russell Group, Million Plus, GuildHE and London Higher, as well as the Council of Deans of Health.
Vanessa Wilson, CEO of University Alliance, said: "With applications down for medicine, nursing and midwifery courses, the need for a unified approach to secure the future pipeline of healthcare workers is becoming ever more critical."
She said having a collaborative approach "will ensure greater join-up between government departments, the NHS and the universities who educate the NHS workforce of the future."
The letter cited the pandemic as an example of how universities, the government and the NHS can work together effectively. It argued that "a similar unified effort is needed to secure the long term clinical-skills pipeline."
The mission groups argue the task force would bring together representatives from the DfE and the Department for Health and Social Care to meet alongside representatives from NHS England, health regulators, local government and higher education providers.
It would also effectively co-ordinate activity to bolster student recruitment, work to find ways of increasing the capacity of clinical placements and medical school places, and develop strategies to ensure the recruitment and retention of staff.
Finally, the task force aims to help realise the Long-Term Plan’s ambitious targets for degree apprenticeships, and to tackle the low funding and high regulatory burden associated with delivering them.
