NHS Long Term Workforce Plan

The NHS needs to train record numbers of doctors, nurses, dentists, physiotherapists and other key healthcare staff to address the gaps it has in the current workforce and meet the challenge of a growing and ageing population.

This Plan sets out an expansion in training, changes to ways of working, and improvements to culture that will increase the NHS permanent workforce over 15 years, this could mean at least an extra

• 60,000 doctors
• 170,000 nurses
• 71,000 allied health professional (AHPs)

 

The Plan articulates that apprenticeships are an effective way of both growing the workforce and widening participation, as expanding these routes appeals to a broader diversity of applicants and particularly those who have wider life experience.

There will be an expansion of new roles such as physician associates and nursing associates. There will also be an increase in the number and proportion of apprenticeships, creating opportunities for people to join the NHS from a range of different backgrounds and with a wealth of different experiences.

The size and speed of the increase in delivery of apprenticeships for each profession depends on:

• The student conversion rate for courses; for professions where this is already high, there will be less opportunity to expand via undergraduate routes, and so a greater proportion of the expansion set out would need to be via apprenticeship routes. These professions include adult nursing, learning disability nursing, mental health nursing, podiatry, operating department practitioners and occupational therapy.
• Whether apprenticeship standards already exist for professions or need to be developed.
• The availability of ‘feeder’ support professional groups such as nursing associates for the registered nurse degree apprenticeship.

The plan aims to increase the use of apprenticeships aiming to provide 22% of all training for clinical staff through apprenticeship routes by 2031/32, up from just 7% today. To support this ambition, the plan aims to reach 16% by 2028/29.

The Case for Apprenticeships: 

• Apprentices contribute to patient care during the period of their training.
• Apprentice routes support the NHS to build multidisciplinary teams with the right skills mix for the future, as well as support staff to advance in their careers by opening routes into enhanced and advanced practice roles.
• Emerging evidence shows that apprentices are less likely to leave training compared to those in traditional undergraduate training programmes. For example, attrition rates for all current cohorts of the registered nurse degree apprenticeship programmes are 4%, compared to over 15% for traditional nursing undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
• And there is evidence of better retention of apprentices; some trusts have been able to retain 100% of their registered nurse apprentices.

Some further detail on how this plan will affect particular areas: 

Nursing 

Currently, only approximately 9% of nurses qualify through apprenticeships. The plan aims to work towards this ambition by expanding nursing apprenticeships so that by 2028/29, 20% of registered nurses are qualifying through this route, including 33% of learning disability nurses, 20% of adult nurses and 28% of mental health nurses.

Learn more about the Level 6 Registered Nurse – Degree (NMC 2018) apprenticeship standard. 

Midwifery

The Plan sets an ambition for 5% of the annual intake for midwifery training to come through apprenticeship routes, and NHS England is supportive of this being higher in geographies where there is a need.

Learn more about Level 6 Midwife (Degree) – NMC 2019 apprenticeship standard. 

Nursing Associates

The plan aims to train more nursing associates (NAs), with 5,000 NAs due to start training in 2023/24 and 2024/25. This Plan estimates a need to incrementally increase that number to 10,000-10,500 per year from 2031/32.

Learn more about the Level 5 Nursing Associate (NMC 2018) apprenticeship standard. 

Doctor Degree Apprenticeships

This plan also aims to introduce medical degree apprenticeships, with pilots running in 2024/25, so that by 2031/32, 2,000 medical students will train via this route. To support this ambition the plan aims to grow medical degree apprenticeships to more than 850 by 2028/29.

Learn more about Level 7 Doctor Degree (GMC 2018) apprenticeship standard, download the Medical Doctor (Degree) apprenticeship implementation resource pack

Advanced and Enhanced Practice

The plan aims to support upskilling the workforce and offering opportunities for enhanced, advanced and consultant practice will help retain NHS staff delivering clinical care, grow the total number of senior clinical decision-makers and enable the delivery of better patient care.

Traditional career structures for healthcare professionals can be too rigid, with some staff opting to leave clinical practice because they feel they cannot progress their careers.

Level 7 Advanced Clinical Practitioner (Degree) apprenticeship standard. 

Level 6 Enhanced Clinical Practitioner apprenticeship standard. 

Allied Health Professional (AHP)

Click on the image to discover what apprenticeship standards are approved for delivery in this area.

Education and training places for the Allied Health Professional (AHP) workforce are estimated to need to grow by 19–25% by 2030/31. This expansion would need to focus on both apprenticeship routes and traditional undergraduate courses. More than a third of AHPs could train through apprenticeships, compared to 6% now, but this would vary by professional group.

The Plan sets out the following assessment for proportion of entrants joining the AHP workforce via an apprenticeship route by 2031/32:

• at least 80% for operating department practitioners, therapeutic radiographers and podiatrists
• 25–50% for paramedics, diagnostic radiographers, occupational therapists, dietetics, prosthetists and orthotists
• up to 5% for speech and language therapists and physiotherapists.

 

Pharmacy

There is potential to continue expanding training via the apprenticeship route for pharmacy technicians and consideration is being given to the potential of a pharmacist degree apprenticeship.

Learn more about the Level 3 Pharmacy Technician apprenticeship standard. 

Healthcare Science 

Apprenticeship routes for healthcare scientists are also being made available, with 20% of training places delivered via an apprenticeship route by 2028/29 (supporting an ambition to have 40% of healthcare scientists starting their training via an apprenticeship by 2031/32).

Visit our Healthcare Science page and learn about what apprenticeship standards are approved for delivery.

Core skills and knowledge must be embedded across the wider NHS workforce to improve population health. ICSs should look to expand secondary prevention expertise by working with DHSC (Department of Health and Social Care) to increase uptake of the Level 3 Community Health and Wellbeing Worker apprenticeship standard among the frontline workforce and identify opportunities to upskill enhanced and advanced practitioners in population and public health.

Non-clinical professionals in corporate services, estates and facilities and general management expanding apprenticeship routes can help address key workforce shortages and particularly benefit those professions that historically lack a consistent route for training and career development, such as non-clinical professionals in corporate services, estates and facilities and general management.

Visit our Job Families page to learn about apprenticeship standards in a wide range of areas.

Creating a pipeline:

There are a variety of pre-apprenticeships and pre-employment programmes that can prepare individuals to enter and succeed in an apprenticeship or employment. Visit our Creating a pipeline page to discover more about pre-apprenticeship programmes, the Care Certificate and Skills for Life.

Organisational Strategy

Visit our Organisational Strategy section to use our costing tools to help plan for apprenticeships. Access our resources to help guide you through setting up an Apprenticeship Service Account. Access a variety of apprenticeship guides. Check out our Pathways Tool which shows how apprentices may progress from one occupation to another.

Planning and Partnership Working – Access resources to help you on your way and read how others have done! Check out our Planning and Partnership Working page. 

Funding:

Our Funding page will help you learn about Apprenticeship Funding, let access the most recent Apprenticeship Funding Rules and find out about Levy Transfer and more.

Recruitment:

Discover more about how to take on an apprentice, what wages they should be paid and what documents are required. Visit our Recruitment page. 

Standards

Use our Standards page and Job Family section to find out about the wide range of apprenticeships that are available.

Resources and Data

Visit our Resources & Data section and find out how to support care experienced young people through an apprenticeship. Access apprenticeship statistics.

Learn how to ensure that apprenticeships are accessible.

Find out more about the NHS and Sustainability.

Quality 

Visit our Quality section.

Access the “Delivering High Quality Apprenticeships: Guiding Principles for the NHS in England” document which presents a set of guiding principles that, when reflected in practice, will support you to deliver high-quality apprenticeships in the NHS.

Learn more about the different responsibilities of external quality assurance bodies for apprenticeships.