The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan ( LTWP ) was finally published in June , against a backdrop of one of the deepest workforce crises in the health service ’ s history .

The LTWP for England promises to increase the number of training places available for nursing by between 80 % by 2031 , to a total of 53,858 nurses each year . 1

Primary care is the subject of generous workforce commitments , with the plan aiming for a 73 % increase in the number of staff working in mental health , primary and community care by 2036-37 .

In short , there seem to be reason for optimism about the future of the nursing workforce , even in primary care .

However , in the months since the plan ’ s publication , doubts have arisen over whether this optimistic expansion is , in fact , feasible in any of the professions .

Questions over training capacity Analysis by The Health Foundation estimates nursing would account for 65 % of the total expansion in training places , with higher education institutions needing to provide an additional 32,000 places a year by 2031-32 . 2 This means students training to be NHS clinical professionals would make up one in six of all first-year students in the UK .

Economist and author of the Health Foundation ’ s analysis Nihar Shembavnekar is cautiously optimistic but warns there is much work to be done .

‘ As things stand there are concerns around whether there ’ s sufficient training capacity ,’ he says , ‘ but that ’ s exactly what the plan is seeking to change .’

Mr Shembavnekar explains that a lack of capacity for supervision is a problem , as an ‘ insufficient number of trainers ’ holds back the system ’ s capacity to support newly qualified nurses .

References 1 NHS Long Term Workforce Plan 2023 : Train – Growing the workforce . tinyurl . com / LWP-train 2 The Health Foundation , 2023 . How feasible are the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan commitments on training ? tinyurl . com / HF-LTWP 3 UCAS . Daily clearing analysis 2023 . tinyurl . com / UCAS-nurse

Yet , he believes that , with sufficient collaboration between stakeholders such as the NHS , higher education institutions and employers , the LTWP ’ s commitments are feasible in the long term .

Experienced nurses needed for supervision However , many of those on the front lines of the recruitment struggle in primary care do not share this optimism .

Clinical director of North Central London Training Hub Katherine Gerrans says the plan ’ s ambitions are not possible ‘ with the current funding of the current training apparatus ’.

North Central London , like many other areas , is simply unable to provide the numbers of experienced nurses required to supervise newly recruited nurses in general practice , Ms Gerrans says .

‘ To train your new workforce , you need to have experienced nurses working alongside them . As a training hub , a prime role for us is to maintain the quality and safety of training while trying to increase placement capacity . That ’ s a significant challenge with the current service delivery needs of general practice .’

Ms Gerrans points out that an ageing general practice workforce , combined with a higher demand on services in primary care , means nurses have less and less time to offer supervision and training .

‘ We are experiencing a real difficulty trying to get nurses released from day-to-day practice ,’ she says , ‘ because placements are not income generating .’

Practices are eligible for a tariff of £ 5,000 , plus an adjustment for local market conditions , per year of full-time-equivalent ( FTE ) placement offered .

But Kathryn Caley , lead nurse for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Training Hub , dismisses these fees as

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