I wanted to understand what attempts it had made to anticipate and plan for such problems as part of developing its workforce plan and whether it had tried to modify or avoid serious risks. So, in February I sent NHSE a freedom of information request asking if it could share the risk assessment that had accompanied the workforce plan. My requests were met openly, with only names of individual officials redacted.14 For such a major policy initiative with such serious long term implications, I was surprised by just how scant the risk assessment was. But I have serious doubts about the rigour of the risk assessment, the lack of impact assessment, and the failure to anticipate the backlash against some of the plan’s elements. There’s no cross party commitment to the plan, which puts its delivery at risk after the next general election.
