Ongoing GP shortage puts NHS long term plan at risk, warn experts

Chronic shortages of staff in critical areas such as general practice are jeopardising the NHS’s long term plan to strengthen primary and community care in England, experts have warned.1

New research by the charity the Health Foundation found “ongoing deterioration” in workforce numbers in primary and community care, nursing, and mental health services, with staff numbers failing to keep pace with demand.

Shifting care out of hospitals and closer to people’s homes was identified as a major priority in the NHS Long Term Plan, published in January.2

But Anita Charlesworth, director of research and economics at the Health Foundation and one of the report’s coauthors, said, “If [the NHS] can’t recruit and retain …