NHS People Plan: the crucial gap in the nursing workforce target

Varied data collection methods make it hard to gauge exact nurse numbers and vacancies

• Interim NHS People Plan to tackle biggest challenge facing NHS – a shortage of nurses
• But lack of overall system to record nurse numbers and vacancies hampers planning
• RCN review shows falls in mental health, learning disability and community nurses

The NHS is in the grip of a workforce crisis, and nothing is more pressing than the shortage of its biggest resource – nurses.

Health unions, charities, patient groups, academics, the media and even the UK governments all agree on one point: the nursing shortage needs to be addressed urgently.

This shortage is the ‘biggest single challenge’ facing the NHS workforce, according to the Interim NHS People Plan ,