Rishi Sunak outlines 15-year plan to ‘build the health workforce of the future’

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The Prime Minister has said his NHS Long Term Workforce Plan will be the “biggest workforce training expansion” in the history of the health service.

Pointing to the country’s reliance on “attracting talented people from overseas rather than recruiting at home”, Rishi Sunak outlined the vision of his 15-year plan to “build the health workforce of the future”.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Sunak said: “This week, in conjunction with the NHS, we’ll announce a series of new policies to transform the way we deliver healthcare.

“The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan will be the biggest workforce training expansion in the NHS’s history. It will ensure we train, retain, reform and make the most of our talented and experienced staff.

“It will be a 15-year plan to give the NHS certainty, because we recognise it takes time to train these staff, who are among the most highly skilled in our society.

“We will be using the latest techniques and innovations to streamline the journey from classroom to clinic, to get more patients the care they need. And it will be backed by government funding and support, balanced against the wider pressures on the economy.”

Mr Sunak described the plan as the “cornerstone” of his Government’s vision for “a better, more modern healthcare system”, adding: “I feel a great responsibility to ensure our NHS endures.”

It comes days after junior doctors in England announced they would be staging a five-day strike next month in a dramatic escalation of their dispute with the Government over pay and staffing.

Members of the British Medical Association will walk out from July 13 to 18 in what the association said is thought to be the longest single period of industrial action in the history of the health service.