Re: Patricia Hewitt’s review of the latest NHS reforms
Dear Editor
I have tried on many occasions to ask this:
Where is the workforce plan?
Where is the workforce plan?
How can any organisation be expected to function if it has no idea of the number of people it requires to perform its role and meet its objectives?
The Government set the budget for the NHS until 23/24 BEFORE it tasked the IPRB 2 years ago. Any statement from the Health Secretary saying the IPRB is free of Government interference is simply untrue. Additionally the IPRB has repeatedly been sent remit letters far too late for the April pay rounds; DHSC and NHSE have added to the problem by submitting their written evidence up to a month late.
According to my (Conservative) MP, the Government simply provides the funding: it is, apparently, NHSE’s responsibility to set the priorities and objectives for the NHS. I wonder, therefore, what the point is of having a Health Secretary at all.
It is OUR money that is being spent. The Government has a duty to ensure it is spent correctly. If the Government and NHSE have not provided a workforce plan, by what yardstick can anyone measure whether OUR money is being spent effectively?
The Hewitt report fails to address this fundamental point, on which every single one of her recommendations must rest.
So, I ask again:
Where is the workforce plan?
The BMA, RCN, and the BMJ have a duty to keep asking this until there is an answer. Without one, nothing else matters.
Rapid Response:
Re: Patricia Hewitt’s review of the latest NHS reforms
Dear Editor
I have tried on many occasions to ask this:
Where is the workforce plan?
Where is the workforce plan?
How can any organisation be expected to function if it has no idea of the number of people it requires to perform its role and meet its objectives?
The Government set the budget for the NHS until 23/24 BEFORE it tasked the IPRB 2 years ago. Any statement from the Health Secretary saying the IPRB is free of Government interference is simply untrue. Additionally the IPRB has repeatedly been sent remit letters far too late for the April pay rounds; DHSC and NHSE have added to the problem by submitting their written evidence up to a month late.
According to my (Conservative) MP, the Government simply provides the funding: it is, apparently, NHSE’s responsibility to set the priorities and objectives for the NHS. I wonder, therefore, what the point is of having a Health Secretary at all.
It is OUR money that is being spent. The Government has a duty to ensure it is spent correctly. If the Government and NHSE have not provided a workforce plan, by what yardstick can anyone measure whether OUR money is being spent effectively?
The Hewitt report fails to address this fundamental point, on which every single one of her recommendations must rest.
So, I ask again:
Where is the workforce plan?
The BMA, RCN, and the BMJ have a duty to keep asking this until there is an answer. Without one, nothing else matters.
Competing interests: No competing interests