As the immediate demands of the covid pandemic begin to recede, the NHS will need to assess what the future looks like and what changes made during this time will be embedded in “business as usual” as it moves forward.

Many of its workforce will have been delivering care virtually at least part of the time since March 2020. Others – primarily in non-clinical roles - will have been working from home. Some of these changes seem set to persist but in a more managed and focused way.

This may mean staff need additional skills and training to maximise the benefits of this way of working and help the NHS get the best out of the staff it has. Current staff are likely to be the mainstay of the NHS going forward as money to employ large numbers of extra staff is likely to be limited.