KPMG Report Highlights Solutions for UK Healthcare Workforce Crisis
London, Monday, 31 March 2025.
KPMG’s report outlines workforce planning and tech integration to tackle the UK healthcare crisis, aiming for better patient care and staff engagement.
Unprecedented Workforce Challenges
The healthcare sector is facing what experts describe as its most significant workforce challenge to date. The situation has been severely exacerbated by the pandemic, which has intensified pre-existing issues around staff supply and attrition [1]. Recent analysis shows that the NHS will need to expand from 1.5 million staff to between 2.3-2.4 million by 2036-37, requiring an additional £50 billion annually in 2022-23 prices [5].
Technology Integration and Role Diversification
KPMG’s strategic response emphasizes that while healthcare remains fundamentally people-driven, traditional approaches of simply hiring or training more medical professionals are no longer sufficient [1]. The organization, which operates across 143 countries with 273,000 professionals [2], advocates for a more diverse array of roles and innovative training approaches. This transformation includes enhanced digital enablement to free healthcare professionals from routine tasks [1].
Research-Driven Solutions
Current research indicates that only £7.2 million (2.2%) of a £327.8 million budget for COVID-19 research was allocated to workforce research projects [5]. This underinvestment in workforce research comes despite the fact that approximately 65% of the NHS budget is spent on workforce costs [5]. KPMG’s transformation strategy emphasizes the need for evidence-based approaches to workforce planning and development [1][3].
Future-Ready Healthcare System
The transformation roadmap includes developing employee-centric organizations and building future-ready skills [1]. This approach aligns with recent medical device industry trends, where major healthcare organizations are investing in cardiovascular innovation and technological advancement [4]. Organizations implementing these comprehensive changes are reportedly twice as likely to meet patient expectations [3], though specific metrics require further validation [alert! ‘exact success metrics not provided in sources’].