Wes Streeting

Wes Streeting

Labour — Ilford North

Speaking in the House of Commons on 10 December 2025

Debate

Resident Doctors: Industrial Action

Contribution

I thank the hon. Gentleman for the first bit. As for the rest of it, let me just say that the NHS workforce plan we inherited came in the 14th year of the Conservative Government. It was so absurd—it was so absurd—that on its trajectories for the increase in staffing numbers, within this century, 100% of the public would have to work for the NHS to sustain that level of workforce growth. And that is against the backdrop of AI, machine learning, genomics and the revolution in life sciences and medical technology that will change the NHS workforce and change the face of medicine. We are working with the royal colleges, think-tanks and trade unions to make sure that in the new year our workforce plan is more credible. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we are taking a bit longer with the workforce plan than I had originally intended. We are doing that because I was asked to do so by the partners that we will need, to ensure that the modelling and assumptions underpinning the workforce plan are good. I am always prepared to take a little bit more time to get it right, than to rush something out. That is the spirit in which I have engaged in workforce planning.

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