Pledge of 50,000 more nurses fails to have any ‘substantial impact’
The NHS is on track to recruit 50,000 more nurses by March 2024 but with little impact on the number of unfilled posts.
There are still around 40,000 unfilled nursing vacancies across the NHS in England.
According to a new report, the supply of new nurses into the health service is not keeping up with the demand.
An analysis by the King’s Fund has revealed that although the NHS is on track to recruit 50,000 more nurses by March 2024, it is not having a “substantial impact” on the number of unfilled posts.
The report suggests their findings were not explained by worsening retention rates but the demand for nurses rising more quickly than new nurses can be trained or recruited.
Earlier this month, MPs rejected a plan for the second time to publish a regular healthcare workforce analysis designed to identify and help tackle the shortfall in staff.
There are still around 40,000 unfilled nursing vacancies across the NHS in England.
Hitting the target but missing the point.
Jonathon Holmes, policy adviser at The King’s Fund comments, “This analysis shows the government risks hitting the target but missing the point”.
“The supply of nurses may have increased, but so too have the demands on the NHS – there are still substantial shortages, with 40,000 nurse vacancies”.
Mr Holmes continued, “It has been too easy for successive governments to duck the health and care workforce challenge. The regular publication of workforce supply and demand projections would create the much-needed impetus to tackle the staffing crisis”.
“The NHS and social care workforce crisis long pre-dates the Covid-19 pandemic. It follows years of poor planning, weak policy, and fragmented responsibilities.”
