Responding to new data confirming the government has met its
manifesto commitment on 50k more nurses in the NHS, Nuffield
Trust Researcher Lucina Rolewicz said:
“This data confirms that there are over 50,000 more full-time
equivalent nurses working within NHS services since September
2019, which results in more clinicians on the frontline
delivering care for patients. The level of growth in NHS nurses
that needed to be achieved to meet this manifesto commitment has
only been achieved three times before in the last 60 years. This
will have required significant effort from national bodies,
employers and existing staff at a time of undoubted pressure.
“This year alone (up to September 2023) we have seen a
substantial jump, over 18,000, in the number of nurses working in
the NHS – the highest annual increase on record. Sustaining the
recent momentum will be absolutely vital if the NHS hopes to meet
its ambitious workforce commitments in the NHS workforce plan.
Our analysis published today
shows that the NHS will need to see on average over 13,000 more
nurses working within services every year until 2037.
“Data from the UK’s nursing register also published today still
illustrates how reliant we are on international recruitment to
grow our nursing workforce. Over the last six months, as many
joiners came from overseas as were trained domestically. Boosting
the domestic supply needs to be a key part of the equation; we
know that the NHS is still failing to attract and retain valuable
UK-trained staff with too many not joining the NHS or leaving
early. The government will need to address these issues together
to deliver the sustainable NHS workforce that patients need.”
Ends.
Notes to editor:
