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NHS England facing ‘worst staffing crisis in history’, MPs warn
NHS England is currently battling a staff shortage of over 60,000
NHS England is posing a serious risk to patient safety as it faces the ‘worst staffing crisis in history’, a new report by MPs has warned.
The report, produced by the Commons health and social care select committee and obtained by the BBC, found that England is currently short of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives.
If this staffing shortage isn’t rectified, plans to tackle the nationwide backlog of appointments and treatments caused by the Covid pandemic could be threatened, the report warned.
In response, the government said the workforce is growing and NHS England is drawing up long-term plans to recruit more staff.
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Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who chairs the Commons health and social care select committee, said tackling the shortage must be a ‘top priority’ for the new prime minister when they take over in September.
He said: “Persistent understaffing in the NHS poses a serious risk to staff and patient safety, a situation compounded by the absence of a long-term plan by the government to tackle it.”
In order to combat the ongoing shortages, almost a million new jobs will need to be filled in health and social care by the early part of the next decade.
Extra staff would also be needed to keep up with rising demand as the population gets older and healthcare becomes more complex and technologically advanced.
Additionally, the committee also heard evidence from former Health Secretary Sajid Javid that the government was not on track to deliver its manifesto commitment to increase the number of GPs in England by 6,000.
Concern for maternity services was also voiced, with the committee detailing how more than 500 midwives left the health service between March 2021 and March 2022.
And conditions were found to be ‘regrettably worse’ in the social care sector, with 95% of care providers struggling to hire staff and 75% finding it difficult to retain existing workers.
The report said: “Without the creation of meaningful professional development structures, and better contracts with improved pay and training, social care will remain a career of limited attraction, even when it is desperately needed.”
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In response, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said the number of people employed in healthcare was now growing and NHS England had been asked to develop a long-term plan to recruit and retain more staff.
He said: “As we continue to deliver on our commitment to recruit 50,000 more nurses by 2024, we are also running a £95m recruitment drive for maternity services and providing £500m to develop our valued social care workforce.”
This comes amid strike tensions across the NHS’s workforce, as the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing consider taking action over inadequate pay.
The general secretary of Unison, the biggest union representing NHS staff, said: “The government has a simple choice; either it makes a sensible pay award, investing in staff and services and reducing delays for patients… Or it risks a potential dispute, growing workforce shortages and increased suffering for the sick.”