MPs have grilled health secretary Yvette Cooper over how the Government will seek to tackle shortfalls in medical school and specialty training places, during a hearing yesterday [4 November].

Members of the Commons’ health and social care committee pressed the health secretary for answers over when the Government will publish its NHS workforce plan and how it intends to further reduce long-standing bottlenecks in training places.

Appearing before the committee, alongside Department of Health and Social Care permanent secretary Samantha Jones and NHS England chief executive Jim Mackey, Ms Cooper faced repeated questions over the issue of training place shortages.

Resident doctors’ leaders last month vowed that they would continue to press the Government on workforce planning and the expansion of training places, shortages of which have fuelled a medical staffing crisis across the health service. 

This was despite the welcome announcement by NHS England that competition ratios for specialty training places had seen significant reductions due to the implementation of the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act.

Speaking at today’s hearing, committee member and Labour MP for Calder Valley Josh Fenton-Glynn cited BMA analysis of the extent of shortfall in training places and what further clarity the Government could give over how this would be remedied.

He said: ‘The BMA say that in 2019 there were 1.9 applications per specialty training post. By 2024 that was 4.7. Are we at a real risk of losing doctors, either to overseas or from the profession, if they can't find a training pathway?’

He added: ‘We don’t actually have a recruitment problem; we’ve got a training problem so how are we going to fix it?’

In response Ms Cooper said that the Government remained determined to meet its commitment reached as part of the resident doctor pay deal concluded in June, to introduce 4,500 new specialty training places over the next three years.

She added that this included expanding the number of GP training posts to 5,000 by 2028/29.

She said: ‘A lot of work has been done to make sure that we have as many specialist training posts as possible, and also as many different jobs in the NHS as possible. I think that is really important, but I think there is always a time lag between the numbers going into training and what's needed in five years' time, seven years' time, 10 years' time.’

Meanwhile Conservative MP for Farnham and Bordon Gregory Stafford asked Ms Cooper when the Government intended to publish its workforce plan for the NHS. 

He further queried whether the Government still intended to honour a commitment made by previous health secretary Wes Streeting to fund the creation of 2,000 new places in medical schools over a three-year-period.

She said: ‘We will publish a workforce plan in the New Year I think there is a kind of level of uncertainty probably around what the future staffing needs and specialism needs are for the NHS that is probably greater than at any time in its history.

‘Part of what we need to do is have some humility around the idea that a 10-year plan, can predict what we're going to need in 10 years’ time [and] the uncertainty around the areas that we need, I think, has become much greater than previously.’

Alongside questions on workforce planning and training places, Ms Cooper was quizzed on the ongoing dispute between the Government and consultants in England. 

Last month saw the BMA consultants committee confirm that members in England would stage 48-hours of strike action later this month, after negotiations with the Government over working conditions and pay restoration failed to make significant progress.

Questioned by Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington Paulette Hamilton about how the Government would address the dispute with consultants, Ms Cooper acknowledged that the voices of senior doctors had been lost at both local and national level.

Describing consultants as ‘the spine around our national health service’ Ms Cooper added that she wanted to work with senior doctors towards rectifying this.

She said: ‘Every single day of the week there are consultants right across the country who are doing a phenomenal job.

‘The things I think that we need to improve and to do better is actually strengthening the role of consultants and that clinical voice, both at local level within trusts and organisations. 

‘I think there is a sense from some consultants that actually their voice has been lost on the kinds of innovations, the care improvements, service improvements that they want to see [and] it is in everybody's interest for consultants to be able to do more innovation, have more training time, and to be able to do that.’