Opposition day debate: NHS workforce

An Opposition day debate in the name of the Leader of the Opposition is scheduled for 6 December 2022 on the following topic:

NHS workforce

The full text of the Motion as printed in the Order Paper is as follows:

That this House recognises that the National Health Service is facing the worst workforce crisis in its history with a shortage of 9,000 hospital doctors and 50,000 nurses; condemns the Government’s failure to train enough NHS staff to tackle this crisis; regrets that, as a result, patients are finding it impossible to get a GP appointment, ambulance or operation when they need one; calls on the Government to end the 200-year-old non-domiciled tax status regime which currently costs taxpayers £3.2 billion a year; and further calls on the Government to use part of the funds raised to invest in the NHS workforce by doubling the number of medical training places, delivering 10,000 more nursing and midwifery clinical placements, training twice the number of district nurses per year and delivering 5,000 more health visitors to guarantee that the NHS has the staff to ensure every patient can access the care they need.

The following Library products provide background information on the NHS workforce.

• Commons Library briefing paper CBP-7281 NHS Key Statistics: England, 18 November 2022
• Commons Library debate pack CDP-0209 NHS staffing levels