Delivering three big shifts will be core to government’s wider 10 Year  Health Plan: from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. A highly skilled and motivated workforce, backed by a sustainable pipeline of trainees and upskilling of existing staff, will be critical in delivering success. 

In our latest briefing, we identify some of the challenges to transforming healthcare education and opportunities to ensure universities can provide a workforce that will support the NHS now and in the future. 

Universities have always played a major role in training healthcare professionals and will be invaluable partners in transforming the NHS. Our universities represent 22 of the 46 medical schools in the UK and collectively train 3 out of 4 medicine and dentistry students. It takes hard work and resilience to prepare for a career in a healthcare profession. Our courses deliver a diverse range of skills which can lead to long-term success as part of a dedicated healthcare team, crucial for increasing the resilience of our healthcare workforce.

With political consensus on the need to increase the number of healthcare workers, our universities are ready to work with government to refresh the long-term workforce plan and expand training further. Universities are key to NHS reform, but sustainable funding and strategic expansion are needed to train more healthcare professionals, improve retention, and future-proof the workforce.

Professor Chris Day, Chair of the Russell Group and Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle University shares his thoughts on why universities must be at the heart of any plan to expand the training of healthcare professionals in a piece for the Health Service Journal.