The Government said the revised plan would ensure the NHS had the right workforce in the right place to deliver its 10-Year Health Plan.

Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘Our 10 Year Health Plan will deliver three big shifts in the focus of healthcare from hospital to community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention. We will refresh the NHS workforce plan to fit the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, so the NHS has the staff it needs to treat patients on time again.'

The Government said the original workforce plan would increase hospital consultants by 49% but provide only 4% more fully qualified GPs between 2021/22 and 2036/37. 

Recent data shows the UK has almost 16% fewer fully qualified GPs than other high income countries relative to its population, with the number of nurses working in the community falling by at least 5% between 2009 and 2023.

There was also an almost 20% drop in the number of health visitors between 2019 and 2023 with the number of mental health nurses having just returned to its 2010 level.

Interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said: ‘Trust leaders fully back plans to shift more care from hospitals to the community and it makes sense for the NHS to update its Workforce Plan to ensure it has the right staff in the right places to deliver this much-needed change.

‘But it's vital that the revised workforce plan also looks at the bigger picture and the wider workforce challenges facing the health service.

‘While the devil will inevitably be in the detail of the revised workforce plan, trust leaders will also want reassurances that it will be backed by full funding.'

Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: ‘People working in the NHS faced prolonged uncertainty due to a lack of a meaningful plan for workforce need and supply. The 2023 plan was then a significant step forward, as was the commitment to regularly refresh the plan.  

‘The clear commitment by the secretary of state for health and social care to ensure that the first refresh will respond to the ambitions of the Government's 10-Year Plan for Health will be welcomed by NHS leaders. At the same time, they are also increasingly concerned that similar Government attention is not yet being given to the profound funding and workforce challenges facing our colleagues in social care.'