”It’s the workforce, stupid” - is the NHS workforce in crisis?

As the junior doctors in England strike, concerns for the workforce are foremost in the minds of those running the NHS. A summary is available here: http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i1510 In The BMJ roundtable, recorded at the Nuffield Trust Health Policy Summit on Friday 4 March 2016, we asked our participants if they think the NHS is in crisis, and what they think can be done to help those working across the system.

The participants were Clifford Mann, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Samantha Barrell, chief executive at Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Candace Imison, director of policy at the Nuffield Trust, Richard Jones, consultant cardiologist, Saira Ghafur, specialist registrar, Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Claire Lemer, consultant in general paediatrics, Ben Mearns , chief of medicine at Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, Sarah Pickup, deputy chief executive at the Local Government Association, and Jeremy Taylor, chief executive of National Voices.