The COVID pandemic showed the remarkable flexibility of our staff to step into new roles, but it has also led to fatigue; and demand for NHS staff is likely to continue to exceed supply over the coming years without any action.

Over the coming years, we will help staff by growing the workforce, freeing up staff from the unnecessary burdens which they face in their day-to-day work, and allowing staff to work more flexibly.

We also know that volunteers can play a crucial role delivering care, as seen so clearly during the COVID pandemic, and we want to further build on this in roles across health and social care.

While all areas of the NHS workforce are under pressure, we know that there are specific areas of the integrated urgent and emergency care (iUEC) workforce which we need to expand, such as:

• increasing the number of clinicians working within NHS 111 and integrated urgent care.
• continuing to ensure that projected paramedic workforce gaps are mitigated through undergraduate student intakes and apprenticeships.
• increasing the numbers of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in 2023/24 to support the planned expansion of ambulance capacity.
• increasing the numbers of advanced practitioners in priority areas including in emergency care.
• continuing to expand the mental health workforce within UEC and mental health services.