British Thoracic Society celebrates 75 years of the NHS workforce

Today, 5 July 2023, marks 75 years of the National Health Service (NHS). The first free, universal health system in the world, the NHS cares for patients across the four nations of the United Kingdom, providing a range of treatment and services, including for respiratory illnesses.

The rate of hospital admissions for respiratory-related illnesses is significant across the UK. It is a major contributing factor to pressure on the NHS and health workforce, particularly during the winter months. In 2019, NHS England published the NHS Long Term Plan which recognised the importance of developing respiratory healthcare due to the burden that respiratory illness has on the UK population. A key message the Plan which is relevant to all nations is the importance of building a multi-professional workforce across the UK, improving training and growing leadership in the public health sector. The most recent NHS England Long Term Workforce plan published last week further elaborates on this, highlighting what is required for a sustainable workforce in the long term.

A report published by British Thoracic Society (BTS) titled "A respiratory workforce for the future", similarly outlines the vital importance of the multi-professional respiratory team, highlighting the additional staffing required across all respiratory professions and calls for a number of changes in resourcing, training and commissioning that must be put in place to ensure the NHS has a sustainable respiratory workforce today and in the future.

BTS will continue to advocate for an optimum respiratory workforce to with enough trained staff to provide respiratory services across the NHS. This includes allocating sufficient funds to grow the respiratory workforce, ensuring capacity exists for respiratory research, as well as continuing to provide leadership in service development and delivery of care in hospital, primary and community settings. 

BTS President, Professor Onn Min Kon, comments,

"It is a real pleasure to mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS, and to recognise and celebrate the immense work that NHS staff have delivered over that time. While the NHS faces significant challenges which are having a major impact on the lives of respiratory and other professionals, it is appropriate to highlight how much you all deliver on a daily basis. BTS Officers, Trustees and staff want to thank all healthcare professionals for the outstanding hard work they deliver for the benefit of patients and their carers."

More recently, the existence of the NHS as a single public entity enabled rapid response to COVID-19. Respiratory staff played a key role managing people with COVID-19 pneumonia throughout the pandemic and continue to support people with symptoms of long COVID.

The pandemic also highlighted the importance of different organisations in the NHS working together in an integrated manner. The multi-disciplinary respiratory team is increasingly caring for patients with complex comorbidities and are being required to deliver care outside of traditional healthcare boundaries. Advances in technologies and limitations of inpatient facility capacity is driving better integration of primary and secondary care. With setting up integrated care systems being part of the Long Term Plan for England, BTS supports NHS goals to address health inequalities through integrated care service planning.

75 years after its commencement, the NHS continues its journey of growth to meet ever-changing population demands. BTS will continue to work actively with its members, in partnership with other organisations, and with colleagues in the NHS and Department of Health to ensure that together we achieve a respiratory workforce to meet the challenges of the future, and to support our vision of Better Lung Health for All.