Educator Workforce Strategy - Health Education England

The demand for health and care services in the UK continues to increase. Although we now have the highest staffing levels in the history of the National Health Service (NHS), as well as more staff in training, demands for and expectations of this workforce have never been greater. A growing ageing population that has an increasing prevalence of chronic health problems, continuous improvements in our ability to diagnose and treat ill healthand changing societal expectations, means that there are increasing workforce shortages, both in the UK and globally, despite associated staffing increases. In the context of ever-increasing demands on the NHS, education and training are increasingly important because of the inextricable link between securing a future workforce, retaining our current workforce across clinical, practice and research roles, and maximising productivity of the current workforce through education and training to optimise capability and confidence at every level. Delivering our future workforce is ultimately dependent on a sustainable and high-quality educator workforce to support education and training, both in practice and in academic settings.