A Tory Health Secretary refused to intervene when local health chiefs slashed nurse training places more than 10 years ago, it can be revealed.
Former Labour minister John Spellar wrote to then Health Secretary Andrew Lansley - now a Conservative peer - in 2011 hitting out at cuts by West Midlands Strategic Health Authority to the number of spots available.
In his reply, seen by the Mirror, Mr Lansley told the MP: “SHAs are expected to base their planned commissions on local workforce plans and liaise with their providers, including higher education institutions, about these commissioning decisions as part of their contractual discussions.
“Based on the local providers’ workforce plans, the West Midlands SHA believes that a reduction in commissions is necessary to avoid a significant oversupply of the nursing workforce.
“While I appreciate the concerns you express about the future nursing workforce in the West Midlands, it is important that the workforce plans of providers inform education commissions decisions and for this reason, it would not be appropriate to direct the SHA to increase the number of commissions it has planned.”
Mr Spellar said tonight: “This shows the absurdity, over a number of years, that they have allowed cuts to take place in training nurses.
“They relied on taking nurses from other countries and have now got a major shortfall.
“This is brought about by the incompetence of the Department of Health coupled with cuts in the austerity era.”
Last year it was claimed there will be a shortfall of almost 40,000 nurses in England by 2023-24.
A Department of Health spokesman said: “We are committed to 50,000 more nurses in the NHS by the end of this Parliament, with the latest data showing there were over 36,000 more nurses in October 2022 compared with September 2019.
“The number of students accepted to nursing courses has also increased by 18% over the past three years, and there were 72,000 nurses in training in 2022.”
The revelation came as thousands of nurses prepared to end their latest strike across England in a dispute over pay.
Around 1,000 ambulance workers in Wales also walked out.
The NHS advised people who were seriously injured or ill to still phone 999 but to call 111 or visit the 111 website for non-urgent care.
Health leaders have begun to draw-up contingency plans for what could be the biggest walkout in the history of the NHS.
Unions representing nurses and ambulance workers are scheduled to strike on the same day - February 6.
Further strikes are planned throughout February and March, with the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers both expressing concern about how the NHS will cope and urging the Government to talk to unions about pay.
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