RCN demands greater involvement in upcoming workforce plan

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is among over 70 health organisations who have urged the health secretary to work closely with them in the development of the planned 10 Year Workforce Plan for the NHS.

Yesterday, the organisations sent a joint letter to Wes Streeting to demand a ‘robust stakeholder engagement process’ on the plan which is due to be published later this year.

The letter said the  organisations ‘stand ready to offer our considerable shared expertise’, adding that ‘funding will need to be attached to any priorities that the plan sets’.

Among the 74 signatories were the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), the King’s Fund and other charities.

The letter said that ‘it is crucial to get a robust stakeholder engagement process underway, and allow the time to produce a thorough, credible workforce plan with stakeholder buy-in and an accompanying implementation plan’.

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It cited a National Audit Office analysis of the previous NHS Long Team Workforce Plan which recommended ‘assumptions should be generated in transparent and systematic consultation with external stakeholders’.

It also referenced the 2024 NHS staff survey which found only a third of staff themselves believed there were enough staff in their organisation to do their job properly.

The letter argued that ‘a well resourced NHS workforce will be essential to delivering the three shifts’ proposed in the recently-published 10 year health plan.

A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson told our sister title Pulse: ‘We welcome the fact so many important stakeholders are keen to support our 10 Year Workforce Plan.

‘We all want the same thing – an NHS workforce which has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients when they need it.

‘We are committed to engaging with partners to draw on their evidence and expertise.’

The Government has previously promised a ‘refreshed’ plan to replace the 2023 Long Term Workforce Plan, whose aim to increase NHS headcount 60% by 2037 it rejected as unworkable.

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The 2023 plan was also criticised for its projected 4% increase of fully qualified GPs by 2036/37, compared to a 49% increase in hospital consultants.

The new plan will result in ‘fewer staff than projected’ but they will be ‘more motivated’ and receive ‘better training’, the Government said in the 10 Year Health Plan.

The RCN has previously called on the government to produce a ‘detailed and fully funded plan’ to develop the UK’s registered nursing workforce for the government’s recently launched neighbourhood health service to be a success.

The Government has said it will end the NHS’ ‘dependency on international recruitment’ by capping new overseas recruit numbers at 10% by 2035 to create a more ‘sustainable’ workforce.

It said it would ‘neither be possible nor ethical’ to maintain similar levels of international recruitment, and a more sustainable plan ‘will involve NHS employers reaching into their communities – rather than looking to international recruitment agencies’.

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In June, new data from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) revealed that overseas nurse recruitment had fallen for the first time in 6 years.

At the RCN Congress in May, nurses warned of the ‘incredibly miserable’ consequences of the government’s plans to ban the recruitment of care workers from overseas.

A version of this article was initially published by our sister publication Pulse.