The National Health Service (NHS) in England will get more than 300,000 staff under a new plan announced by the government on Friday to deal with a chronic shortage of doctors and nurses.

The publicly funded NHS, which marks its 75th birthday Wednesday, is facing an estimated workforce shortfall of 360,000 by 2037 because of an aging population, a lack of domestically trained health workers and difficulties retaining staff.

The government's long-term workforce plan would include reducing the time doctors spend in medical school and training more homegrown staff, to improve staffing levels that are below the European average.

"Today we're announcing the most ambitious transformation in the way that we staff the NHS, in its history," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told a press conference.

"This is a 15-year plan to deliver the biggest ever expansion in the number of doctors and nurses that we train... and a plan that not only eases the pressures today but protects this precious national institution for the long term," he said.

He accused previous governments of having "ducked the challenge for decades".

NHS England currently has 112,000 vacancies as it struggles to fill the large number of workers leaving the service over issues such as pay and also tougher visa rules after Brexit.

The NHS has seen unprecedented strikes over the last year, with staff complaining of being underpaid and overworked as they struggle to clear the backlog created during coronavirus lockdowns.