PLANS to transform the NHS must be backed by more funding to tackle record staff shortages, growing waiting lists and an exhausted workforce, the government has been warned.

NHS managers and unions including nursing leaders issued the call for more investment in response to Wes Streeting’s promise to turn the NHS into a “neighbourhood health service.”

The Health Secretary will invite patients and NHS staff to take part in a “national conversation” to shape the government’s 10-year plan for the service this week.

Today, Mr Streeting said: “We will rebuild the health service around what patients tell us they need. Our 10-year health plan will preserve the NHS’s traditional values in a modern setting.”

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) welcomed plans to shift treatment from hospitals to communities, but general secretary Nicola Ranger said the NHS “simply does not have the nursing numbers to deliver it.”

She said: “Without new investment, the number of community nurses will stay on track to be half what it was two decades ago.

“Nursing staff are ready to help deliver the modernisation our health service needs, but staff are overworked and chronically undervalued.

“We were the only NHS profession to reject the government’s pay award.

“Reforms must come with the investment needed to turn around nursing.”

Helga Pile, head of health at public service union Unison, said: “Years of NHS mismanagement by the Conservatives has left services in a perilous state and workers exhausted. 

“Record staff shortages are fuelling ever-growing waiting lists. Any plans to overhaul the way care is delivered and health improved must involve investing in the workforce. 

“Improving wages and overhauling the pay structure across the health service are key to solving the staff crisis and restoring patient confidence.” 

NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts in England, also called for investment.

Deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said the government’s plans “must go hand-in-hand with sustainable funding and investment, particularly for capital, an end to chronic workforce shortages and more support to meet growing demand not just in hospitals but across mental health, community and ambulance services too.”

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has also warned that pharmacies are in financial crisis and that plans for the NHS must include urgent action to tackle it.

NPA chief executive Paul Rees said many pharmacies “could be forced to close down before the 10-year plan is even published.”