NHS sets out plans to train more doctors and nurses and increase staff retention

The NHS has unveiled plans for how it plans to train thousands more doctors, nurses and other health workers, retain more staff, work differently and deliver training in new ways.

The plans are part of the new Long term NHS Workforce Plan and will have an impact on staff recruitment, training and retention across BSW, as well as in the rest of the country.

The new report sets out how thousands more doctors and nurses will be trained in England with the intention of filling more than 100,000 doctor, nurse and other health worker vacancies and create more to pre-empt future increased demand

The number of places in medical schools each year will rise from 7,500 now to 10,000 by 2028 and 15,000 by 2031, focused on areas where there are too few doctors.

There will also be a big expansion in adult nursing training places, taking the total number each year to nearly 28,000 by 2028-29 and nearly 38,000 by 2031-32. This is part of a broader plan to increase the number of nursing and midwifery training places to about 58,000 by 2031-32.

There will also be the NHS’s biggest expansion of apprenticeships, including new doctor apprenticeships, with a goal that 20% of all clinical training will be done through these, up from 7% at present. Five-year medical degrees may be shortened by a year.

NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard said: “As we look to adapt to new and rising demand for health services globally, this long-term blueprint is the first step in a major and much-needed expansion of our workforce to ensure we have the staff we need to deliver for patients.

“We will take practical and sustained action to retain existing talent, we will recruit and train hundreds of thousands more people and continue to accelerate the adoption of the latest technology to give our amazing workforce the very best tools to provide high-quality care to millions of people across the country each day.”