Speeches by Coleman.

“When you say flexible working, do you mean in terms of the hours worked or the types of jobs that are done?”

“It is not optional for the areas whether they do that.”

“I am going to come back to nursing briefly. What should be in the workforce plan?”

“Very briefly, what is your experience of ICBs? How attentive do you think they are to the needs of pharmacists, and how much time do they spend discussing that?”

“I am putting words in your mouth.”

“Are you saying that, as things stand at the moment, the job is a bit boring and that it could be made more interesting?”

“What is the biggest thing that we could do to encourage pharmacists to stay in the profession that does not involve spending a lot of money?”

“Would that cost more?”

“What would that mean in very specific terms?”

“I will focus on pharmacy and then come back to you. Cutting to the chase, Ms Doll, what would you like to see in the workforce plan?”

“That is very helpful. I am going to turn to nursing. We have a problem. One in four district nurses left the profession in the year to September 2024. Again, on retention, what would you like to see in the workforce plan?”

“I can see that, if you enable people to work less, you are going to need more GPs. Is there also something about requiring GPs not to do certain things and enabling patients to go, for example, directly to specialists more easily?”

“I will push you slightly, and then I would like to come to other witnesses. You are saying that you would sort out the problem of retention if we had more GPs. That is the No. 1 thing. Is there anything else that would not cost as much money?”

“And they need hope?”

“The value of giving people a sense of hope is powerful.”

“Practices need more money to employ more GPs?”

“What is in the way of employing them?”

“That is a circular argument. We want to retain more GPs by retaining more GPs. I am not sure that is the complete answer.”

“What is the best way of getting more GPs? It may seem a simple question.”

“I see. You have that and all the other challenges that you have identified. We have the workforce plan coming up. What would you like to see in the workforce plan to encourage retention?”