Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure adequate staffing levels within NHS organisations across Leicester and Leicestershire.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP), published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.

The Government is backing the plan with over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places. This is on top of increases to education and training investment, reaching a record £6.1 billion over the next two years.

By significantly expanding domestic education, training and recruitment, we will have more healthcare professionals working in the NHS. This will include more doctors and nurses alongside an expansion in a range of other professions, including more staff working in new roles. The LTWP also commits to retaining our workforce, keeping up to 130,000 more staff in the NHS by improving culture, leadership and wellbeing.

As of September 2023, there are currently 15,654 full time equivalent (FTE) staff working in University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. This is 1,143 or 7.9% more than this time last year. This includes 2,219 FTE doctors, 180 or 8.8% more than last year, and 3,998 FTE nurses, 349 or 9.6% more than last year.