Healthcare Workforce Intelligence Briefing 16/01/26

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Healthcare Workforce Intelligence Briefing

Designed for busy professionals managing the workforce or those providing staffing solutions into the health sector, this publication curates and summarises some of the most relevant content in a single publication.    

Kate Harper

• In the Media

• Blogs and Comments

• News in Numbers

• Pause for Thought

Some information in key publications sits behind firewalls.  Other information requires individuals to register for free access to sites.

In the Media

NHS Policy and Transformation

Trust plans big increase in private care ‘fuelled by limited NHS capacity’. The HSJ reports on the plan by a North West Trust (Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust) to significantly expand its private patient orthopaedic surgery unit.  

Caring together: a joint vision for the future of cooperation between adult social care and the NHS - published by NHS Confederation and ADASS in partnership with RLDatix.

What is social prescribing? A useful explainer published by the King’s Fund.

UK Authority reports that NHS leaders are not ready for digital reform

According to Digital Health, The risk with NHS technology is moving too slowly, says Streeting

The Mental Health Act 2025: what you need to know. NHS Confederation Briefing

NHS Workforce

RCN issues latest warning on impact of ‘corridor care’ on nurses. This report in the Nursing Times details the toll on nurses from the ‘entrenched’ use of corridor care.

The merits of student loan forgiveness and pension changes for resident doctors. The Institute for Fiscal Studies reflects on a number of options that have been put forward to improve pay and conditions for resident doctors.

The Guardian reports: NHS staff face ‘national emergency’ as patient violence hits 285 incidents a day.  

NHS Confederation and NHS Providers announce new chief executive. The new organisation, formed from the merger between NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation, will be led by Sir Ciarán Devane.

International Workforce

Some interesting perspectives on contingent workforce trends in USA healthcare from SIA:

• The healthcare staffing buyer playbook is changing reflects on the way in which organisations are looking beyond traditional staffing firms to reduce their bill rates - looking particularly at ‘internal float pools’ and ‘gig-based staffing platforms’.  

• Travel nurses can be less expensive than directly employed: NATHOResearch by KPMG in America (commissioned by NATHO) suggests that while many healthcare leaders assume travel clinicians cost more, this is because they only focus on hourly wages and not fully loaded costs for both travel and perm staff.

• Structural forces reshape $9.6b locum tenens market. This article suggests how worsening physician shortages, provider burnout and tighter hospital finances are pushing systems to rely more heavily on flexible staffing solutions repositioning locum tenens from short-term coverage to a more integrated workforce option.

See article below on what we can learn in the UK from these trends.

HR and Staffing

Useful info from the CIPD.

HR’s guide to immigration in 2026: preparing for a busy yeaer ahead.

Stronger parental leave rights to take effect from April, government confirms.

Government announces overhaul of Disability Confident scheme

HR Magazine reports Nearly half of younger workers plan job move in 2026, suggesting ‘lacking of stickiness’ among the younger workforce.

Political, Economic, Social, Technical, Legal and Environmental Trends

Quarter of businesses expect to increase headcount in next three  months, survey finds.Confirmation of continued low employer confidence.  

Recruiter Magazine reports on Financial uncertainty for healthcare recruitment firms over VAT policy brief.  You can see APSCo’s comments here.

Blogs and Comments

Professor James Buchan from the Health Foundation has published a blog on Meeting the NHS workforce retention challenge.   In it he argues that the new workforce plan will need to look beyond national headline trends on leavers to focus o targeted, tailored and sustainable solutions for workforce retention.

Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of the King’s Fund, asks What’s in store for health and coail care in 2026?

The News in Numbers

In case you missed it…The King’s Fund has also published ‘NHS Workforce in a Nutshell’ which sets how many people work in the NHS, thr roles they are in and how happy they are with their jobs.

💡 Pause for Thought

What Could the NHS Learn from the US Contingent Healthcare Workforce?

Recent analysis from Staffing Industry Analysts suggests that US healthcare providers are fundamentally rethinking how they use their contingent workforce. Faced with sustained shortages, burnout and financial pressure, many are moving beyond traditional agency models and treating flexible staffing as a strategic workforce asset.

This article explores what sits behind the growth of internal float pools, gig-based staffing platforms and a more integrated approach to locums and travel nurses. It also examines why comparisons with the NHS are often dismissed, and where that instinct may be holding us back. In particular, it reflects on familiar NHS blind spots around fully loaded workforce costs, the under-valuing of staff banks, and the role of technology in enabling flexible working at scale.

The US model is not transferable. But it does raise uncomfortable questions about whether flexibility in the NHS is being designed deliberately, or simply managed reactively. Food for thought for anyone grappling with workforce sustainability, cost pressures and the future shape of the health workforce.

View the full article here…