Jessica O'ConnorThe British Medical Association (BMA) has warned that the Government’s 10‑Year Health Plan will fail unless it tackles severe workforce shortages and ensures doctors and healthcare staff feel valued.
In a recent statement, the BMA stressed that “a fundamental shift in the way doctors are valued – financially and culturally” is essential to reverse years of declining pay, burnout, and a high number of doctors leaving the profession.
One of the BMA’s major concerns is the rising number of doctors exiting the NHS.
The organisation highlighted that there are “fewer doctors per patient than other comparable countries,” a situation they attribute to disjointed workforce planning and underinvestment in training and recruitment.
They noted that the high turnover of staff is not only damaging morale but “impeding the productivity of the NHS as a whole,” with a knock-on effect on patient outcomes, including increased mortality.
At the BMA’s annual meeting, Dr Kiara Vincent, an emergency medicine consultant, was direct in her criticism: “The current workforce plan has failed.”
She pointed to growing competition for training posts, citing around five applicants for every core surgical training post and nearly twelve for each clinical radiology position.
Despite widespread rota gaps in general practice, newly qualified GPs are reportedly struggling to find employment this summer.
To restore confidence in the plan, the BMA has outlined several key reforms.
These include expanding consultant and GP training posts, protecting medically led care, stabilising doctors’ pay and pensions, and ensuring that clinicians are given leadership roles in NHS decision-making bodies.
They also called for real-terms increases in both resource and capital funding for the NHS, suggesting that investment should return to growth rates seen during previous decades.
Sustained public health funding and improvements to NHS infrastructure were also identified as essential.
The BMA cautioned against shifting care into community settings without providing adequate support to hospitals.
They emphasised that long-term workforce planning must ensure safe staffing levels and be informed by independent, multi-year modelling.
The BMA argued that without valuing the workforce and addressing longstanding staffing issues, the Government’s ambitious plan is unlikely to succeed as the NHS cannot thrive “if we don’t invest in its most valuable asset – its people.”
