Responding to the new report from the Health Foundation's REAL Centre, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:

"This important report outlines the sheer scale of the challenges facing the health and care workforce and the NHS as a whole. The gaping chasm between service demand and workforce supply is a huge concern. It must be addressed as a matter of urgency if we are to protect our staff from burnout alongside meeting rising demand pressures and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Persistent staff shortages have normalised excessive workloads and stress at work across the NHS, which has led to the loss of far too many of our highly valued staff.

"Significant and far reaching national intervention is needed to protect the future of the NHS and social care; there must be a shift away from 'quick fix' solutions to a sustained, reliable and strategic approach.

"The upcoming spending review provides a critical opportunity to tackle the immense workforce challenges the health and care workforce is facing. A fully costed and funded multi-year workforce plan must sit alongside significant recurrent investment in staff training and development."