Attending the Council of Deans of Health Autumn Conference 2025 left me both motivated and unsettled. The collective commitment to the NHS workforce agenda was clear, yet the discussions revealed a deep uncertainty around the practical delivery of the ambitions set out in the Government’s new 10-Year Health Plan. As colleagues reflected, policy and planning still feel disconnected, and without a clear, funded workforce plan, universities and NHS employers alike cannot plan the sustainable training pipelines the system depends upon.

Policy Context: The 10-Year Health Plan and Workforce Uncertainty

The new NHS 10-Year Health Plan sets out an ambitious agenda built around three defining shifts, from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. Consensus at the conference seemed to see these as the right priorities, but to make them real, the NHS needs a skilled, adaptable, and consistently replenished workforce. The Government’s recent call for evidence on the forthcoming 10-Year Workforce Plan, based on these same three shifts, represents a vital opportunity to bring clarity and realism to workforce development and funding policy.

As Universities UK (2025) notes, universities already educate and train the majority of the future NHS workforce and have rapidly expanded degree-apprenticeship routes to meet national demand — but continued growth depends on clear policy signals and sustainable investment…

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