Thousands more GPs could be trained in order to deal with the NHS staffing crisis, Wes Streeting has indicated.
The Health Secretary has pledged to create a “transformed health service” after ordering officials to tweak the NHS workforce plan.
The “refresh” would prioritise services closer to the homes of patients – like GPs, according to the Telegraph.
Mr Streeting told the newspaper that a review of the NHS undertaken by eminent surgeon and independent peer Lord Darzi had “diagnosed the dire state” of the health service.
This included “that too many people end up in hospital because there aren’t the resources in the community to reach patients earlier”.
The Health Secretary told the newspaper: “Our 10-year health plan will deliver three big shifts in the focus of healthcare from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.
“We will refresh the NHS workforce plan to fit the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, so the NHS has the staff it needs to treat patients on time again.”
Officials drew up the NHS workforce plan in 2023, which is aimed at helping to grow NHS staff numbers by 2036/37.
But Mr Streeting’s refresh will steer the plan towards training more GPs, community nurses and health visitors in order to support the services nearest to patients’ homes.
Lord Darzi published his rapid review of the NHS in September.
The former Labour health minister made 28 findings, including that “it has taken more than a decade for the NHS to fall into disrepair”.
Ministers have promised a 10-year programme of reform for the health service in response, due to be published in the spring.
Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said the revised workforce plans must include solving the causes of the nursing workforce crisis.
“It should be the Government’s first priority and will deliver better care for millions,” she said.
“Transforming care and shifting it into the community requires major investment. Our analysis shows that crucial parts of the community nursing workforce, including health visitors and district nurses, are set to be half of what they were 20 years ago, while the number of people studying nursing has collapsed in every region in England.
“The Government’s reforms must come with a plan to rescue the largest NHS workforce. This means better pay and a loan forgiveness model to boost recruitment into the profession.”
