Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the sufficiency of staffing in the National Health Service in relation to the increase in population; and what they consider to be the reasons for any shortfall.

The latest monthly workforce statistics published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that as at November 2014 there were over 500,000 (full-time equivalent) clinical staff working in the National Health Service, an increase of nearly 23,200 since May 2010.

It is not for the Government but for local NHS organisations to decide whether they have sufficient numbers of staff, and they are best placed to do this based on the needs of their patients, demand for services and the best skill mix to serve their local community.

It is the responsibility of Health Education England (HEE) to ensure sufficient staff are available to meet demand, through its investment in education and training. The views of providers on the nature and number of the workforce they intend to employ, based on local provider plans is central to HEE’s planning for how it invests its training resources.