Vital Signs: NHS & care workforce/staffing

Briefing · Parliament

MPs and peers debate NHS workforce gaps, a forthcoming 10-year plan and whether doctors should have the right to strike

1. 01The government's forthcoming 10-year NHS workforce plan was repeatedly raised but had not been published by the end of the period. In the Health Bill committee on 23 June, Karin Smyth (Labour, Bristol South) confirmed the plan would be published 'imminently' and would 'set out the action to create a workforce that is ready to deliver the transformed service', updated every two years. Dr Caroline Johnson (Conservative, Sleaford and North Hykeham) pressed the government in the same sitting on whether it still intended to double the number of medical school places, citing a ministerial written correction that appeared to walk back the commitment, and later argued in a fifth sitting that workforce levels were 'the difference between the NHS meeting the challenge of an ageing population or slipping into decline'.
2. 02The right of NHS staff to strike was a central dispute in the Health Bill committee on 16 July. Dr Johnson tabled new clauses to ban doctors from striking and restore minimum service level requirements, arguing that 'leaving the safety of patients at the behest of union barons' had led to almost 50,000 appointment cancellations in April 2026. Karin Smyth responded that 'a ban on a doctor's right to strike is not the answer', while the unattributed government contribution noted the end of the resident doctors' dispute and said the previous legislation 'created a hostile environment'. Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat, North Shropshire) tabled a separate new clause that would have set minimum service levels for Agenda for Change staff but not doctors.
3. 03Staff shortages in maternity services dominated two separate statements. James Murray (Labour Co-op, Ealing North) told the Commons on 24 June that Donna Ockenden had found 'staff shortages and lack of training in Nottingham were among the worst she has ever come across'. In the subsequent national maternity and neonatal investigation statement on 30 June, an unattributed government contribution announced 1,000 additional temporary roles for newly qualified midwives and £41 million in extra facilities investment. Andrew George (Liberal Democrat, St Ives) used the same debate to call for mandatory safe frontline staffing levels, and Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat) in the Lords on 29 June asked what the government was doing to assess the competence of NHS trust boards after it emerged Nottingham's board had never formally investigated staff shortages.
4. 04Workforce shortages in rural and specialist services were raised across several debates. Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat, Kingston and Surbiton) asked the Prime Minister at PMQs on 2 September to reopen North Devon's maternity unit, which had been closed for three weeks because of staff shortages, saying women were 'being taught how to give birth in their cars'. Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat, North Cornwall) cited a minor injuries unit in Launceston that had closed when a single member of staff went sick. Gregory Stafford (Conservative, Farnham and Bordon) argued on 15 and 16 June that without a published NHS workforce plan there was 'no credible road map' for expanding dental access.
5. 05Baroness Nargund (Labour) used two separate Lords sessions to make the case for a broader NHS workforce strategy. In a migration debate on 9 July she drew attention to a Health Foundation report showing around one in five NHS staff were non-British nationals and asked the government to consider the evidence when setting immigration policy. In a skills debate on 3 September she argued the NHS could serve as 'an anchor for skills, training, apprenticeships, regional health and growth' and asked the government to explore the idea as part of the Milburn review, describing it as a potential 'practical solution to the NEET crisis'.