The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh welcomes the announcement on workforce planning included in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. New College President Rowan Parks commented:
I am pleased to see the commitment to the NHS and Department of Health and Social Care publishing a workforce plan for the number of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professions needed for the next five, ten and fifteen year periods.
We have been calling for such a measure for some time. It is vital that we have a plan for how many of what staff the NHS requires in the short, medium and long term so that training and recruitment can be done in a focused and guided way. Addressing the workforce challenge will put the NHS on a surer footing to bring down waiting lists and deal with demographic changes.
I also welcome the news that the NHS budget will increase in each of the next two years by an extra £3.3bn.