For 75 years, the NHS has existed for an enduring moral purpose:
To give every single person in our country the security…
…that comes from knowing that if you're sick, you will be cared for.
Rich or poor, young or old, in work or out…
…the NHS is there for you, whenever and wherever you need it.
I believe in the NHS because it's fundamental to my family.
My Dad was a GP; my Mum was a pharmacist…
… and I saw from an early age the difference they made to the community where they lived and worked.
And the difference made by the hundreds of thousands of others…
…who sacrifice so much, for so many…
…in the service of that higher purpose, of protecting our nation's health.
But while that purpose has never changed, what has changed are the challenges facing the NHS.
Our society is growing older.
The burden of illness is changing.
And all of this will put pressure on an already overstretched workforce.
A couple of weeks ago, I joined doctors and nurses on the late shift at Watford General Hospital.
I saw courageous, hard-working men and women…
…doing extraordinary things in difficult circumstances.
And they told me the same message we hear time and time again…
…from leaders in the health care sector and the public.
We need more Doctors and Nurses to ease the pressures…
… and we need reform, to free them up to do their jobs properly.
And they're right.
Governments from all parties have ducked the challenge for decades.
It just isn't right that we don't train enough people here at home to properly staff our National Health Service.
Now overcoming this won't be quick or easy.
It's only possible because of the difficult decisions we're taking elsewhere to cut the debt.
And by prioritising the NHS, there will be other things that we can't afford.
But the NHS is too important.
So we're making the tough calls and doing things differently…
…to protect the long-term future of the NHS and this country.
Already we've made progress.
With more investment in the NHS than any government before…
…including up to £14 billion extra for health and social care over the next two years.
We've not only hit our manifesto target to recruit 26,000 more primary care staff…
…we've done so one year early.
And we're very close to meeting our promise to recruit 50,000 more nurses.
And we're cutting the waiting lists…
…with waits of over two years virtually eliminated in England…
…and the number of patients waiting over 18 months reduced by over 90%.
But even without the Covid backlogs…
…and even with the record number of doctors and nurses we have today…
…unless we act now for the long term, the challenges we face will only get worse.
So, today we're announcing the most ambitious transformation in the way that we staff the NHS, in its history:
The Long-Term Workforce Plan.
This is a 15-year plan to deliver the biggest ever expansion in the number of Doctors and Nurses that we train.
And a plan to reform the NHS so we deliver better care in a changing world.
And a plan that not only eases the pressures today…
…but protects this precious national institution for the long term.
This is the NHS's own plan.
And the government is proud to back it…
…funding the expansion of education and training for the first 5 years in full…
…with over £2.4 billion of additional investment.
You can trust this government with the NHS.
The plan rests on three principles: train, retain and reform.
First, training.
We'll double the number of medical training places by 2031…
…focusing on areas where there are too few doctors now.
We'll train over 24,000 more nurses and midwives a year…
…and increase the number of GP training places by 50%.
In time, this will allow us to reduce our spending on temporary agency staff by £10 billion…
…and cut the need for international recruitment.
Today the proportion recruited from overseas is around 1 in 4, with our plan it will fall to just 1 in 10.
Second, doctors and other clinicians can spend a lifetime gaining invaluable experience.
We want to hang onto those skills for as long as we can.
So we'll retain more of our dedicated workforce…
…keeping up to 130,000 more staff in the NHS over the next 15 years.
We already offer best in class pensions and we've just dramatically cut the tax on pension savings…
…a move that has been called 'transformative'.
Now we're going to modernise the pension scheme so staff can partially retire or return to work much more easily if they wish to.
And we're going to improve conditions right now for those who gave so much during the pandemic.
To do that, we're improving culture, leadership and wellbeing…
…giving staff more flexibility and control…
…and investing in their professional development.
Finally, we need reform.
It's not enough just to have more Doctors and Nurses…
…we need to change the way they work so that they can deliver better care for patients.
Partly, this is about seizing the opportunities of new technologies like AI.
Or just look at virtual wards…
…which use technology to allow patients to recover at home, providing a better service at lower cost.
But we're also going to:
Expand new roles like 'nurse associates and physician associates'…
…so that the most qualified staff can focus on patients with the most complex needs.
We're going to drive the biggest ever expansion of apprenticeships in the NHS…
… so that one fifth of all clinical training will be offered through degree apprenticeships…
… helping to bring staff into the NHS from a much wider range of backgrounds.
And we'll give staff in the NHS more opportunities to progress, such as becoming a nurse or a doctor…
…as well as making sure that the workforce of the future has the advanced knowledge they need to care for our ageing population.
Taken together, these changes will raise NHS productivity - so patients get more and better care for the same money.
So, training, retention, and reform…
…that's our plan to build the healthcare workforce of the future…
…and secure the NHS for the long-term.
Next week marks the 75th anniversary of the NHS.
For every minute, of every day, of every one of those 75 years…
…the NHS has been kept going by the millions of people who've worked for it.
To them, on behalf of a grateful nation, I want to say: thank you.
I feel a powerful sense of responsibility to make sure that their legacy endures.
And to make sure the NHS is there for our children and grandchildren…
…just as it was there for us.
And that's what today's plan is all about.
More Doctors.
More Nurses.
Better care for all.
Today - and long into the future.
Thank you.
