Give the NHS a workforce plan with numbers attached, say leaders

The government is facing sustained pressure to tackle workforce shortages in the NHS—now routinely referred to as a crisis—and agree a long term workforce plan to underpin its future operation.

This week, former NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens, now Lord Stevens of Birmingham, and fellow peer Baroness Cumberlege will propose an amendment to the Health and Care Bill, calling for an objective and independent mechanism to set safe staffing levels in the NHS.

If that amendment is passed in the House of Lords it will go back to the House of Commons and could lead to a revision of planned legislation, making it a legal requirement for the government to publish regular, independent assessments of the numbers of staff the NHS and social care system needs presently and in the future. …