NHS staffing crisis: Plans to halve number of medics being recruited from abroad
The government plans to more than halve the number of NHS staff being recruited from abroad in the next 15 years, according to its long term workforce plan.
On Thursday, a preview of the plan announced the intention to funnel £2.4bn into solving the severe staffing crisis in NHS England.
The full document, which was published this morning, said the service aims to train more NHS staff domestically to “reduce reliance on international recruitment and agency staff”.
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“In 15 years’ time, we expect around 9-10.5% of our workforce to be recruited from overseas, compared to nearly a quarter now,” the NHS plan said.
The report also says:
• Half a million trainees will begin clinical training over the next six years
• The NHS hopes to recruit 300,000 new staff and retain 130,000 extra healthcare workers
• Training places will be expanded across the sector including: GPs (50%), adult nurses (92%), pharmacists (29%), dentists (40%), dental therapy and hygiene professionals (28%), healthcare scientists (13%)
• From autumn, recently retired consultant doctors will be given the option to return to work across England through the NHS Emeritus Doctor Scheme
• Almost a quarter of NHS staff (22%) will be trained via apprenticeship by 2031/32
• New medical degree apprenticeships will train 2,000 doctors by 2031/32
• Staff will be supported to access the new childcare measures announced in the recent budget
• The shortfall in mental health nursing is of “particular concern”, with plans to boost this by 73%
NHS ‘reliant on overseas staff’
The NHS, the report said, is “particularly reliant on international recruitment” to fill workforce gaps. The total proportion of NHS workers with non-UK nationalities – across all professions – has grown to more than 17%.
Since 2017, there has been a 2% increase in UK-trained medical graduates joining the workforce. By comparison, in the same time period, there has been a 121% rise in international medical graduates.
Of the doctors who joined the UK workforce in 2023, 50% were international medical graduates.
And, in 2022/23, about half of new nursing registrants in England were trained overseas.
“This leaves the NHS exposed to high marginal labour costs and risks the sustainability of services in the longer term given the growing global demand for skilled healthcare staff,” the report said.
But achieving the productivity improvements outlined in the plan is depending on ” a sustained increase in capital investment in the ageing NHS estate” and investing in digital infrastructure to allow the NHS to make the most of new technologies.
This includes replacing equipment that has passed its recommended lifespan and expanding “capacity to accommodate the increased demand for healthcare from an ageing population”.
“This would enable staff to function more efficiently, and shorten diagnosis and treatment times in areas such as cancer,” the report said.
New roles will be ‘trained and regulated properly’
Vacancies currently stand at 112,000, and there are fears shortfalls could grow to 360,000 by 2037.
Shorter medical degrees, apprenticeships so staff can “earn while they learn” and more medical school places in the areas of greatest need were among the previous headline announcements.
The Prime Minister has insisted people being brought into new roles in the NHS will be “trained properly and they’ll be regulated properly”.
Rishi Sunak said the General Medical Council (GMC) will bring new roles like physician associates into its remit as regulator.
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As the Conservatives have now been in power for 13 years, critics – including Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting – have been asking why the party hasn’t acted sooner.
He said governments from all parties had “ducked” the workforce challenge for decades but said “overcoming this won’t be quick or easy”.
He added: “It’s only possible because of the difficult decisions we’re taking elsewhere to cut the debt and by prioritising the NHS there will be other things that we can’t afford.
“But the NHS is too important. So we’re making the tough calls, and doing things differently, to protect the long term future of the NHS and this country.”
No mention of pay
And while the plan focuses on retention and training, as waves of strikes continue across the health service, the preview contained no mention of pay other than to say: “Everyone working in the NHS should be recognised and rewarded fairly to help ensure we attract and retain the staff we need to provide the best possible care for patients.”
In response to questions about this, the prime minister said everyone would like to be paid more, but the government’s job is to “make sure that we reward people fairly and well for the work they are doing” but also bring down inflation.
He said he is “really pleased” the NHS staff council, which represents over a million NHS workers, voted to accept the government’s pay offer, adding: “I think they did recognise that it was fair and reasonable and rewarded their members for their hard work.
“”And I’m very grateful to all them for doing that because I know that fundamentally what they care about is working really hard, to deliver excellent healthcare.”
Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said: “This looks like a bold plan to transform the training of new staff in the NHS. But the devil is in the detail as usual. There is a promise of funding for training for three years, but nothing about money for current staff.
“If there is not enough money to pay NHS staff a decent wage now, and transform current wage structures, then all the aspirations for more staffing in the training plan will fail to address the current crisis in the recruitment and retention of staff. That is what is at the heart of the current staff exodus”.
Four people have been charged after £7m of damage was caused to two Voyager aircraft at RAF Brize Norton.
The investigation into the incident early on Friday 20 June was led by counter-terror police.
They have been charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK – and conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
Two Voyager aircraft at RAF Brize Norton were damaged. PA file pic
The four charged have been identified as:
• Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, of no fixed abode
• Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 35, from London
• Jony Cink, 24, of no fixed abode
• Lewie Chiaramello, 22, from London
They will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court later today.
A 41-year-old woman arrested last week on suspicion of assisting an offender has been released on bail until 19 September.
Meanwhile, a 23-year-old man detained on Saturday was released without charge.
Last month’s incident at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire was claimed by the activist group Palestine Action.
Yesterday, MPs voted to proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation.
The legislation passed with 385 MPs voting in favour, while 26 were against.
UK
No 10 backs Chancellor Rachel Reeves and says she ‘is going nowhere’ after tearful appearance in Commons
Rachel Reeves has not offered her resignation and is “going nowhere”, Downing Street has said, following her tearful appearance in the House of Commons.
A Number 10 spokesperson said the chancellor had the “full backing” of Sir Keir Starmer, despite Ms Reeves looking visibly upset during Prime Minister’s Questions.
Politics latest: ‘A moment of intense peril’ for PM
A spokesperson for the chancellor later clarified that Ms Reeves had been affected by a “personal matter” and would be working out of Downing Street this afternoon.
Politics latest: Reeves looks visibly upset in Commons
UK government bond prices fell by the most since October 2022, and the pound tumbled after Ms Reeves’s Commons appearance, while the yield on the 10-year government bond, or gilt, rose as much as 22 basis points at one point to around 4.68%.
Downing Street’s insistence came despite Sir Keir refusing to guarantee that Ms Reeves would stay as chancellor until the next election following the fallout from the government’s recent welfare U-turn.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the chancellor the “human shield” for the prime minister’s “incompetence” just hours after he was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn over his controversial welfare bill.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Badenoch said: “This man has forgotten that his welfare bill was there to plug a black hole created by the chancellor. Instead they’re creating new ones.”
Turning to the chancellor, the Tory leader added: “[She] is pointing at me – she looks absolutely miserable.
“Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the chancellor is toast, and the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence. In January, he said that she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?”
Not fully answering the question, the prime minister replied: “[Ms Badenoch] certainly won’t.
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Welfare vote ‘a blow to the prime minister’
“I have to say, I’m always cheered up when she asks me questions or responds to a statement because she always makes a complete mess of it and shows just how unserious and irrelevant they are.”
Mrs Badenoch interjected: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
The prime minister’s watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill, aimed at saving £5bn, was backed by a majority of 75 in a tense vote on Tuesday evening.
A total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill – the largest rebellion in a prime minister’s first year in office since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair’s Lone Parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University.
After multiple concessions made due to threats of a Labour rebellion, many MPs questioned what they were voting for as the bill had been severely stripped down.
They ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to Universal Credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.
Ms Badenoch said the climbdown was proof that Sir Keir was “too weak to get anything done”.
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Ms Reeves has also borne a lot of the criticism over the handling of the vote, with some MPs believing that her strict approach to fiscal rules has meant she has approached the ballooning welfare bill from the standpoint of trying to make savings, rather than getting people into work.
Experts have now warned that the welfare U-turn, on top of reversing the cut to winter fuel, means that tax rises in the autumn are more likely – with Ms Reeves now needing to find £5bn to make up for the policy U-turns.
Asked by Ms Badenoch whether he could rule out further tax rises – something Labour promised it would not do on working people in its manifesto – Sir Keir said: “She knows that no prime minister or chancellor ever stands at the despatch box and writes budgets in the future.
“But she talks about growth, for 14 years we had stagnation, and that is what caused the problem.”
Prosecutors are considering whether to bring further criminal charges against Lucy Letby over the deaths of babies at two hospitals where she worked
The Crown Prosecution Service said it had received “a full file of evidence from Cheshire Constabulary asking us to consider further allegations in relation to deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital”.
“We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought,” it added.
“As always, we will make that decision independently, based on the evidence and in line with our legal test.”
Letby, 35, was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital and is currently serving 15 whole-life orders.
Letby worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital
She is understood to have carried out two work placements at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where she trained as a student, between October and December 2012, and January and February 2015.
Police said in December that Letby was interviewed in prison as part of an investigation into more baby deaths and non-fatal collapses.
A Cheshire Constabulary spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Cheshire Constabulary has submitted a full file of evidence to the CPS for charging advice regarding the ongoing investigation into deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neo-natal units of both the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital as part of Operation Hummingbird.”
Detectives previously said the investigation was looking into the full period of time that Letby worked as a nurse, covering the period from 2012 to 2016 and including a review of 4,000 admissions of babies.
Letby’s lawyer Mark McDonald said: “The evidence of the innocence of Lucy Letby is overwhelming,” adding: “We will cross every bridge when we get to it but if Lucy is charged I know we have a whole army of internationally renowned medical experts who will totally undermine the prosecution’s unfounded allegations.”
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Three managers at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
On Tuesday, it was confirmed that three managers at the Countess of Chester hospital had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in a separate investigation.
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Police said the suspects, who occupied senior positions at the hospital between 2015 and 2016, have all been bailed pending further inquiries.
There is also an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the hospital, which began in October 2023.
A public inquiry has also been examining the hospital’s response to concerns raised about Letby before her arrest.
In May, it was announced the inquiry’s final report into how the former nurse was able to commit her crimes will now be published early next year.
Earlier this year, Letby’s lawyers called for the suspension of the inquiry, claiming there was “overwhelming and compelling evidence” that her convictions were unsafe.
In February, an international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists told reporters that poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the collapses and deaths.
Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby’s legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal.
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