New figures show record NHS staffing

All public services should be judged on the quality of their output, not their inputs, and the most important criteria for whether our NHS is succeeding is how many patients it helps, not how much the government spends on it or how many people it employs.

However, anyone who has anything to do with the NHS knows that in many key areas the biggest single challenge facing our health service is a shortage of staff, particularly but not only trained clinicians and nurses.

So although I would not want to fall into the trap of assuming that more employees always equate to better service, we all know that NHS staff shortages have made life very difficult for patients and current employees alike, and recruiting more staff, especially key professionals like doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives, is essential to fixing some of these problems. That is why I see record numbers of people working in the NHS as something to celebrate.

And yesterday new figures were published which show a record 1.2 million staff working in our NHS, meaning better care for patients as the NHS works to tackle covid related backlogs. 

• Britain must have a properly funded and properly staffed NHS, providing quality care for everyone who needs it in the UK. 

• That is why I welcome new data that shows a record 1.2 million people working in the NHS with over 3,700 more doctors and 9,100 more nurses since August 2021. This fantastic news is encouraging evidence that the NHS Long Term Plan is working and that the government are making progress towards delivery on the manifesto promise to recruit more doctors and nurses.

• This is incredibly welcome news as it is so vital to protect the NHS on which we all rely, work to tackle covid related backlogs and constantly improve patient outcomes.