Health Education and Training Evidence Session: Educational Innovation and Workforce Readiness

This is the third and final evidence session, part of the Higher Education Commission’s and All-Party Parliamentary Group for Health’s (APHG) inquiry into health education and training.

The NHS faces an unprecedented workforce crisis. England has just 3.2 doctors per 1,000 people – well below the EU OECD average of 3.9 – and would require an additional 40,000 doctors to close this gap. Retention rates among early- and mid-career nurses, midwives, and Allied Health Professionals remain worryingly low, with many citing poor pay, challenging conditions, and limited career progression as reasons for leaving the profession.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (June 2023) set ambitious targets: a 92% increase in adult nursing training places and a 50% increase in GP training by 2031/32. The NHS 10-Year Plan (July 2025) built on this, committing to a curriculum overhaul within three years, 2,000 new nursing apprenticeships in high-need areas, 1,000 additional speciality training posts, and reducing international recruitment to below 10% by 2035. Yet, delivering these goals requires transformative coordination across a fragmented system. Universities face acute financial pressures, with 43% of institutions expecting deficits. Further education colleges contend with chronic underfunding and a teacher recruitment crisis.

Themes for discussion:

• Innovations in pedagogy, digital learning, and future-proofing
• Student experience, support, and retention
• Educator workforce recruitment, retention, and capacity
• Assessment and workforce readiness
• Scaling and enabling good practice

This session is chaired by Professor Jane Harrington, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Greenwich, and will be hosted at the University of Greenwich.

The inquiry is kindly sponsored by the University of Derby, ACCA, and iheed.

For more information about the inquiry or this session, please contact Rhiannon.Tuckett-Jones@policyconnect.org.uk