The Prime Minister is right to say that the NHS needs a workforce plan that will make health workers’ jobs fulfilling. But that sentiment jars with the actions of his Government in recent weeks.

If Rishi Sunak is genuine about such an aim then why has the Government not come around the negotiating table with the nurses.

Instead, during various disputes across the NHS it has hidden behind pay review board recommendations.

Therefore, the Government must first and foremost conclude the pay disputes raging across the NHS - whether that be with the nurses, ambulance workers or physios.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a Q&A session at Teesside University in Darlington. PIC: Oli Scarff/PA Wire

Without fair pay the NHS can’t be expected to attract staff, leading to workforce shortages and increased pressure on those already working in the health service.

The crisis in the NHS was not totally unforeseen. Healthcare workers had been warning about a difficult winter for a while.

Mr Sunak also hailed the use of virtual wards being used to combat NHS pressures as “transformational”.

What would truly be transformational is if the PM set his Health Secretary the goal of starting to fix the crisis in social care.

Fundamental reform and funding is needed in social care, and as the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell writes in today’s pages, the “long-term aspiration should be for a society in which care and support is free at the point of need”.

That would go some way to alleviating some of the pressures on frontline services in the NHS.

PM right to call for workforce plan that makes health workers’ jobs fulfilling - The Yorkshire Post says