Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to today’s NHS workforce figures, said:

“Once again we see the dramatic mismanagement of the NHS workforce under this Government.

“It’s astonishing that at a time of record demand for NHS services, GP numbers and community nurse numbers have all fallen in the past year. Last week we heard it confirmed that there are more than 100,000 vacancies across the NHS.

“We urgently need a sustainable strategy from the Government that gets the right numbers of staff into all parts of the NHS to keep patients safe.”