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Sunak unveils ‘radical’ vision to transform UK health service

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Seeking to boost doctor numbers countrywide, the government has promised ‘the biggest ever expansion in workforce training in the NHS history.’ Yet with the pay debate still in full force, many have renounced the move for failing to address the real issues at hand.

With the aim of saving taxpayers £10 billion, Rishi Sunak has unveiled the ‘most radical’ reform of the NHS in history. Pledging £2.4 billion over five years to train and hire tens of thousands more staff in what he describes as ‘one of the most significant commitments [he] will make as prime minister,’ medical school places will double and students will become doctors more quickly.

The long-awaited workforce plan, published today, warns that the UK health service is on track to be short of 360,000 staff by 2037 (it currently has a shortfall of 112,000).

To avoid this, Sunak has vowed to boost the number of new doctors, dentists, nurses, and other professionals trained in the UK and to stop existing staff from leaving.

In a press conference announcing this vision, he explained that delivering ‘better care in a changing world’ will rest on three principles: training, retaining, and reforming.

The first of this three-pronged approach will increase the number of GP training places by 50 per cent as well as allow aspiring healthcare providers to begin training immediately after their A-Levels so they can gain practical experience during university.

Rishi's reforms won't heal our NHS or his Party

Additionally, the General Medical Council will be asked to shorten medical degrees from five to four years so that junior doctors will be able to enter the workforce more quickly – while they are completing their postgraduate studies.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, praised this part of the blueprint, but stressed that ‘retention is just as important as recruitment.’

On this note, Sunak’s 15-year strategy seeks to reduce the proportion of people recruited overseas from one in four to one in ten. It will do so by considering every role for flexible working; encouraging staff with young children to take up the childcare funding offers unveiled in the spring budget; and offering ad hoc work to retired doctors in outpatient clinics.

The hope is that this will mean retaining an extra 130,000 staff, after 42,400 resigned in quarter two of last year.

Finally, the ‘reform’ section of Sunak’s proposal involves taking advantage of the opportunities provided by technology, with the government determined to raise NHS productivity above private sector levels following a collapse during the pandemic.

The NHS will be urged to make greater use of artificial intelligence in diagnosis and administration, as well as wearable devices such as Fitbits and smart watches, which can monitor patients’ vital signs.

‘We must radically modernise the health service to tackle the pressures on staff that the NHS has faced in every decade of its existence,’ said Health Secretary Steve Barclay.

‘We recognise from the pandemic that there are big waiting lists. We’ve got a plan to clear those but in terms of the longer-term position of the NHS, we also need to boost our domestic training and that is what the plan today sets out — that long-term vision for the NHS.’

What Barclay is referring to, is that A&E waiting times hit more than 30,000 people in May, while monthly A&E attendances reached 2.2million in the same month.

A record 7.4million people – more than 12 per cent of the population – were waiting to start treatment on the NHS in April. The health service has had eight million fewer appointments since the pandemic.

Medics warn Rishi Sunak his NHS reforms will fail if he steps in over pay - Mirror Online

Despite this the UK spends 11.9 per cent of total GDP on the NHS, according to the OECD.

The overhaul, however, did little to confront the wage crisis, which has been the source of much indignation in recent months and the catalyst for ongoing strikes across the nation asking for pay to be restored to the equivalent of 2008 levels, since when it has fallen by about a third.

In fact, questioned about this issue, Sunak said that ‘everyone would like to get paid more’ but that ‘everyone also recognises the economic context that we are in.’ This has triggered furore among medical professionals and the public alike for failing to confront the real issues at hand.

‘This looks like a bold plan to transform the training of new staff in the NHS. But the devil is in the detail as usual. There is a promise of funding for training for three years, but nothing about money for current staff,’ said Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, the largest trade union in the UK.

‘If there is not enough money to pay NHS staff a decent wage now and transform current wage structures, then all the aspirations for more staffing in the training plan will fail to address the current crisis in the recruitment and retention of staff. That is what is at the heart of the current staff exodus.’

Feature Media Manager & Senior Writer London, UK

Sofia (She/Her) – I’m the Feature Media Manager and a Senior Writer at Thred, specialising in exclusive articles and live interviews, fashion and beauty with a focus on sustainability, women’s rights, psychedelics, and Latin America. I studied Spanish at the University of Exeter and International Journalism at City, London. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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