Britain | Britain’s national health service

The NHS in England gets a plan for fixing its broken workforce

Yet bigger changes are needed for Europe’s biggest employer

NHS staff on a hospital ward. — Image: Alamy

Jun 30th 2023

WHEN THE National Health Service in England opened its doors on July 5th 1948 it did so without enough dentists, nurses or midwives to attend to half a million waiting patients. To the frustration of many, the mismatch of supply and demand has persisted, and grown, ever since. In its 75 years, the service never had a long-term workforce plan—an effort to line up and train the right number of doctors, nurses and others needed as the service changes. At last, the government has announced one. Rishi Sunak called its launch, on June 30th, “one of the most significant things” he would do as prime minister. That might turn out to be true. Given the biggest workforce crisis in the NHS’s history, however, it will also not be enough.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “A good start”