Summary: Trained for Tomorrow: A Plan for the Future NHS Workforce – Higher Education Commission Report Launch 

On 13 July, Policy Connect’s Higher Education Commission in partnership with the All-Party Parliamentary Health Group launched Trained for Tomorrow: A Plan for the Future NHS Workforce at One Great George Street, Westminster.  

The report sets out a programme of reform to address the structural barriers preventing the NHS from building the workforce it needs, calling for stronger coordination between government, education providers, NHS employers and professional regulators to support a more sustainable and inclusive workforce pipeline. The event opened with a simulation showcase from the University of Greenwich, demonstrating simulation technology already being used to train healthcare professionals. 

Chaired by Lord Philip Norton, Inquiry Co-Chair, the session opened with an overview from Rhiannon Tuckett-Jones, Research and Strategy Manager at Policy Connect and lead author of the report, who set out the inquiry’s process over the past year, including a parliamentary scoping session, a public call for evidence, three oral evidence sessions, and direct engagement with students and educators across multiple universities. 

The structured discussion panel comprised: 

• Kevin McKenna MP, Inquiry Co-Chair, Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey 
• Professor Kathryn Mitchell, Vice-Chancellor, University of Derby, Inquiry Co-Chair 
• Professor Jane Harrington, Vice-Chancellor, University of Greenwich 
• Joe Fitzsimmons, Regional Lead Policy and Insights, ACCA 
• Rebecca Patterson, General Manager, iheed 
• Devan Chauhan, Children’s Nursing Student, University of Greenwich 
• Rhiannon Tuckett-Jones, Research and Strategy Manager, Policy Connect 

This was followed by an audience Q&A, closing remarks from Lord Philip Norton, and next steps from Claudia Jaksch, CEO of Policy Connect. 

 The report’s recommendations are organised across six themes: 

• Workforce planning and regional pipelines, including a National Healthcare Workforce Development Forum to coordinate strategy nationally, and a requirement for integrated care boards to produce five-year workforce strategies based on robust, publicly available modelling. 
• Awareness and access, including a sustained national careers campaign spanning multiple healthcare professions, and a student loan repayment reimbursement scheme for NHS professionals modelled on the existing teachers’ scheme, with priority weighting for shortage specialities and underserved areas. 
• Entry routes and flexible pathways, including dedicated funding to address employer backfill costs for degree apprenticeships, clearer progression routes within apprenticeship frameworks, a single information portal comparing apprenticeship and university routes, and expanded part-time, blended and modular study options. 
• Theoretical teaching, including a shared framework from professional regulators to make curriculum innovation faster and simpler for education providers to implement. 
• Practice learning, including regional placement coordination networks led by integrated care boards, and formal recognition by professional regulators of simulation-based learning as a quality-assured complement to clinical placement hours, building on existing practice in nursing and extending this systematically across all professions. 
• Career development, including organisation-wide CPD strategies from NHS employers, a government review of CPD funding rules, and expanded flexible and online CPD delivery to address inequalities in access, particularly for ethnic minority staff, part-time workers and those in rural areas. 

For further information, please contact Rhiannon Tuckett-Jones (rhiannon.tuckett-jones@policyconnect.org.uk)  

This inquiry was generously sponsored by ACCA, iheed, Cambridge Education Group and the University of Derby. This launch event was kindly sponsored by the University of Greenwich.