"Medical organisations reacted in dismay last night after an all-party bid to get workforce planning embedded in legislation – to tackle doctor shortages - failed.
The move was led by former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and backed by senior Conservative backbenchers.
It called for independent verification of workforce numbers in health and social care together with projections for up to 20 years to be part of reports to be produced by the health secretary every two years.
Mr Hunt told MPs: “Yes, the amendment would lead to more doctors, nurses and professionals being trained. Yes, that would cost extra money. Yes, it would save the NHS even more money, because every additional doctor we train is an additional locum we do not need to employ.
He said: “The royal colleges say that, as of today, there are shortages of 500 obstetricians, 1,400 anaesthetists, 1,900 radiologists, 2,00 A&E consultants, 2,000 GPs, 39,000 nurses and thousands of other allied health professionals. That is why this problem has become so acute.”
MPs went on to reject the proposal by 280 to 219.
Even allowing for the royal colleges to exaggerate - there are a lot of consultants due to retire soon and training places for junior doctors wanting to become consultants are not being increased, some were actually cut last year.