The NHS workforce plan: building resilient teams and retention of senior clinicians must be prioritised

The NHS workforce plan recognises the urgent need for action but is focused on producing new doctors with little regard for retention.1“Sustainable work schedules” have been advocated as one solution,2 but clinician retention needs wider system change. Professional resilience is a lifelong journey that starts in medical school3 and is therefore threatened by undergraduate curriculums shortened to four years.1 Resilience begins with supportive development of students’ vocation as a doctor plus the acquisition of practical consultation skills to deal with clinical uncertainty4 and to prepare for a “tsunami”2 of patient demand. Learning to deal with patients’ problems, expectations, and “lives” (that is, not just their diagnoses and drugs) calls for human—rather than technological—approaches to care plus well judged clinical restraint.4 The importance of improved upstream training and ongoing mentorship in strong teams is evident in the number of medical students and trainees considering alternatives to the NHS or to medicine…
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