The publicly-funded NHS is facing an estimated workforce shortfall of 360,000 by 2037 due to an aging population.

The United Kingdom (UK) government has revealed plan to recruit more than 300,000 doctors and nurses.

The move is to assist in dealing with the workload in the health sector.

The government announced this on Friday, saying the National Health Service (NHS) in England need more hands to address a chronic shortage of doctors and nurses.

The publicly-funded NHS is facing an estimated workforce shortfall of 360,000 by 2037 due to an aging population, a lack of domestically trained health workers and difficulties retaining existing staff.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, while speaking on the 75th anniversary of the health service, said the government is making the most significant single expansion in NHS education and training in its history.

He noted that the government’s long-term workforce plan would include reducing the time doctors spend in medical school and training more homegrown staff.

“In the coming years we will train twice the number of doctors and an extra 24,000 more nurses a year, helping to cut waiting lists and improve patient care.

“We will do more to retain our brilliant NHS staff and reform the way the health system works to ensure it is fit for the future,” Sunak noted.

NHS England currently has 112,000 vacancies as it struggles to fill the large number of workers leaving the service.

The NHS has seen unprecedented strikes over the last year, with staff complaining of being underpaid and overworked as they struggle to clear the backlog created during coronavirus lockdowns.

The government says the plan could mean an extra 60,000 doctors, 170,000 more nurses and 71,000 more health professionals in the NHS by 2037.

“The publication of our first-ever NHS long-term workforce plan now gives us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put staffing on a sustainable footing for the years to come.

“As we look to adapt to new and rising demand for health services globally, this long-term blueprint is the first step in a major and much-needed expansion of our workforce to ensure we have the staff we need to deliver for patients,” said NHS England chief executive, Amanda Pritchard.

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