Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about the Health and Care Bill (now Act) and the NHS and care workforce.

This legislation provided an opportunity to address high rates of vacancy, inadequate levels of retention and workforce terms and conditions. Yet the Government failed to bring forward a long-term strategy.

At every stage of the Bill, I supported amendments to require Ministers to publish a full and transparent assessment of current and future workforce requirements in health and social care.

Indeed, the Opposition went further, tabling its own amendment to require the Health Secretary to lay before Parliament a fully funded health and care workforce strategy to ensure that the numbers, skill and mix of healthcare staff are sufficient for the safe and effective delivery of services. It built on similar amendments but sought further assurances by putting patient safety and safe staffing levels at the heart of workforce planning.

Disappointingly, the Government rejected and voted against these amendments repeatedly.

Despite the remarkable efforts of NHS and care staff, I remain concerned that a decade of poor planning and short-term thinking by the Government has resulted in workforce gaps that are endemic; there is a shortage of over 100,000 staff across the NHS as well as 105,000 vacancies in social care.

A 2021 cross-party report found workforce burnout across the NHS and social care has reached an “emergency level” and poses a risk to the future functioning of services. The NHS Confederation warns that without the much needed investment in the workforce NHS trusts across England will be unable to recover lost capacity, address growing backlogs or bring down record waiting lists.

Health and care services must have the workforce they need to deliver safe high-quality services now and in the future. These amendments were an opportunity for Ministers to ensure a strategic, long-term approach to health and care workforce planning. I am disappointed they rejected them.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Dowd MP