My first visit as a MP was to QEH where I met the brilliant staff – from the porters moving people around the hospital, to the nurses, and consultants providing high quality care. The job they do today has changed significantly in the 75 years since the NHS was founded but at its core remains providing care for patients. And to continue to meet patient needs requires giving the NHS the workforce it needs for the future.
That’s what the first ever NHS workforce plan published this week aims to do. The plan has three priorities – to train more staff, to retain staff, and to reform how training is delivered. It is backed by £2.4 billion of new funding to pay for the largest expansion of workforce training in the NHS’ history.
First, there is a major focus on expanding training rather than relying on international recruitment. The government will double the number of medical school places to 15,000, increase the number of GP training places by 50 per cent to 6,000, train 24,000 more nurses and midwives, and increase the number of dentists trained by 40 per cent.
Second, it is vital to retain more staff and the plan will help to do this by improving flexible working opportunities, better professional development, and a greater focus on wellbeing. Given issues locally, I welcome the proposal to introduce a tie-in period to encourage dentists to spend a minimum proportion of their time delivering NHS care in the years following graduation.
In terms of reform, the plan set out a new approach to expand the number of associate roles which provide greater career progression for existing staff. This is what QEH is doing through the new CWA School of Nursing Studies – funded through the £25 million Town Deal - where many applications for the nursing associate course come from people working at the hospital looking to improve their skills.
This plan is in addition to the biggest ever investment in the NHS estate with over £20 billion for the fully funded new hospitals programme. It was only a few weeks ago that the Health Secretary announced that QEH is now part of that programme with a commitment by this government to a new QEH by 2030.
Excitement about the success of getting QEH onto the list is still apparent when I am talking to people in Lynn and other parts of West Norfolk.
There are lots of questions about the plans that will be based on the Hospital 2.0 approach to optimise and standardise design and deliver efficiencies by reducing types of components used in hospital – for example cutting the number of door types from around 27,000 to 700. But claims the size of the new hospital has been decided are simply wrong.
More investment is coming with a new diagnostic centre at QEH just announced – one of three across Norfolk backed by £85.9 million. This will mean patients can get faster tests, checks and scans for conditions including heart disease. Coming so soon after fantastic news that there will be a new QEH is another boost for local healthcare.
This article first appeared in the Lynn News on 7 July 2023
