16 July 2021
Commenting on the announcement that Health Education England has been commissioned to review long term strategic trends for the Health and Social Care workforce, Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said:
“We welcome the news that Health Education England will lead the way in a review into long-term workforce planning of the Health and Social Care service. It is urgently needed. The Emergency Medicine workforce has faced this pandemic short-staffed, and consequently we know from the College’s workforce survey that three in five emergency medicine staff are burned out and exhausted.
“The College has called for a new, actionable, long term health and social care strategy that enables the delivery of high quality urgent and emergency care. A key component of that strategy is expanding the Emergency Medicine workforce across all staff grades with clinicians who are trained and qualified in Emergency Medicine.
“We look forward to engaging with Health Education England and putting forward our recommendations for the Emergency Medicine workforce. We hope that this commissioning by the Minister of State for Care is supported by the Health Secretary, and that, given the urgency of the matter, long-term workforce planning will now be included in the Health and Social Care Bill.”
