Last year, the Nuffield Trust warned that the domestic training pipeline for clinical careers is ‘unfit for purpose’ – with too many staff dropping out of training and leaving their NHS careers. Now, the Royal College of Nursing is highlighting issues with recruitment too.
Growing the domestic supply of healthcare staff is critical to ensuring a long-term, sustainable solution to meet the rising demand for healthcare, as well as replacing staff who leave. The good news is that the number of nurses and midwives working in the NHS is increasing, according to new figures. NHS England data for November shows that the number of nurses and midwives working in the NHS in England is now at 372,411 – in fact, there were over 20,000 more in the NHS workforce going into this winter compared with last year. The number of midwives has also grown by more than 1,100 from the previous year to 23,396, according to NHS England.
Professor Mark Radford, Director of Education and Training, NHS England, said: “We are pleased to see the growth within the nursing, midwifery and support staff workforce and will build on this as we work to achieve the Long Term Workforce Plan commitment to train and retain more nurses and midwives.
“Showing people what a nursing or midwifery career has to offer will be vital to the success of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan and the NHS is growing a number of entry routes, such as the nurse degree apprenticeship, to make sure a career in nursing is a possibility for as many people as possible.”
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