Over 100 health and care organisations have signed a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to accept the Lords’ amendment to the Health and Care Bill that will guarantee independent assessments of how many health and social care staff we need now and in future.   

Stressing that the NHS and social care systems need more staff, the letter stresses that the Lords amendment 29 within the bill now provides a mechanism for attaining clarity about the number of doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and social care staff we need now and into the future. Without it, the statement claims, we will ‘continue to fly blind on NHS and social care staffing’.  

The organisations, including the NHS Confederation, NHS Providers, Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Nursing​, Royal College of Physicians​ and Royal College of Psychiatrists, argue that an amendment of this nature will give a national, independent view of how many health and social care staff are needed to keep pace with projected demand over the next five, 10 and 20 years.

It is widely understood that recovery of health and care services will be fatally undermined without a comprehensive workforce strategy that addresses endemic staff shortages by projecting future demand and supply.