On Tuesday, Richard contributed to the second day of the House of Commons debate on the Remaining Stages of the Health and Care Bill, asking the Minister about the focus on labour cost productivity in the NHS.
Speaking afterwards, Richard Fuller, MP for North East Bedfordshire, said:
We are only too aware in Bedfordshire of NHS staff shortages in primary care so I was drawn to the amendment proposed by Jeremy Hunt to require more detailed forecasting of how many doctors, nurses and other medical and non-medical staff we might need.
But as I said in Parliament, fixing current shortages missed the much bigger issue that without significant improvements in the productivity of our healthcare through technology and better staffing mix, we will not be able to deliver those services people expect.
Setting those targets for the NHS alongside better staff forecasting is what we need.
Richard's intervention and the Minister's response can be watched here.
