A flagship government plan to tackle NHS staff shortages has been shelved amid government ‘uncertainty’ and a row over funding with the Treasury.
Senior NHS sources have said the 15 year workforce strategy, announced by Sajid Javid, and slated for publication this October is now unlikely to be finalised or published before Christmas.
Concern among senior NHS figures is that the new health secretary, Therese Coffey and the Treasury are reluctant to consider ways of paying to retain or recruit staff.
Healthcare leaders have raised concerns over the delay, warning it will “compound” the already severe staffing shortages and call for Ms Coffey to include workforce announcements within her speech tomorrow.
NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer said: “One of the single most important actions the health secretary can announce this week is the immediate investment in a national minimum wage for care workers which will help maintain desperately needed capacity in social care.”
It comes as medica royal college leaders released a report on Wednesday warning failure to invest in workforce planning has led to the NHS’ current crisis.
It said: “Open discussion and a full debate about the state of the NHS and social care are currently being avoided.”
One source said the treasury is a “massive hurdle” but that the former health secretary Mr Javid was “up for a fight”.
Another senior NHS source said: “We’ve not had a functioning Department for Health and Social Care system to even get things off the ground. We don’t know what the new priorities are for the government. [But] we are hearing they may change track…a view we have enough money so get on.”
They added “we need to have an honest conversation about affordability or some sense of “what can the NHS do” with the resources it has. Either is not a place where politicians want to be.”
“HMT now say we have the money. If [the plan] is out before Christmas I’ll eat Santa’s hat.”
A third source said: “I imagine that there are some things that are just going to go by the wayside of a new government, the workforce [plan] being delayed is whether they want to sign up to long term workforce planning overall.”
The news comes as Ms Coffey is set to make announcements on Thursday over an “emergency” NHS plan. On Saturday The Independent revealed the DHSC was in discussions with Number 10 over signing off new A&E targets.
Concerns over delays to the workforce plan include that NHS will miss key points in doctors’ and nurses’ academic cycle. Under current training schedules for clinicians planning for 2024 intake will need to happen in early 2023.
Miriam Deakin, interim chief executive for NHS Providers warned: “A delay in producing a workforce plan will only compound existing severe staff shortages and lead to more ‘burnout’ as the NHS works flat out to reduce care backlogs. Trusts need the government to commit to tackling this serious problem.”
She said: “Support from the secretary of state to develop a long-term workforce plan for the NHS is vital. With more than 132,000 vacant NHS jobs, the need to plan further ahead to train, recruit and retain staff in the right numbers is critical.
That is why we have called consistently for a national, fully costed and fully funded workforce plan. Trust leaders are doing everything they can to recruit and retain staff in a challenging context and as the cost of living rises.”
Mr Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, part of the NHS Confederation said: “NHS leaders have welcomed the engagement led by NHS England and Health Education England in the development of a comprehensive workforce plan.
“However, they will be concerned to hear that the government has extended its deadline for this vital work. The government must act now to invest in the health and social care workforce. We know where the risks lie and there are steps the government can take now to support training pipelines for increasing staff numbers in community services and mental health and learning disability services in healthcare as a starting point.
