Immediate action necessary to tackle staff shortages

A coalition of health leaders have warned that the NHS will be unable to meet the needs of patients unless significant action is taken to tackle staff shortages.

According to The Independent, medical royal colleges, NHS trade unions and bodies representing senior hospital managers and other health organisations have joined together to warn bosses at NHS England and the government that they must act to ensure the health service workforce is supported in the wake of coronavirus.

United in the belief that meaningful action on long-standing workforce issues would be the best way to repay the efforts of NHS staff during the virus outbreak, the organisations, including the British Medical Association, NHS Providers, NHS Employers and the NHS Confederation, are calling for a public commitment to boost numbers, increase flexible working, and improve leadership and support for staff.

The organisations said every NHS trust needed to find practical ways to help staff feel valued and work flexibly with better facilities and rewards, and stressed the need for better leadership at all levels to help improve culture and efforts to retain positive ways of working that had emerged during the coronavirus crisis.

Carrie MacEwen, chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which organised the statement, told The Independent: “Continued staff shortages in the NHS will be hugely damaging for patients. It has long been recognised that there is a serious shortage of doctors and nurses and right now we need to keep the staff we have, who have done a brilliant job during the pandemic, as well as increase the size of the workforce. This is why we have all come together in this unprecedented way to say to the NHS that it cannot delay any longer when it comes to making sure we support our healthcare staff.”

There were an estimated 40,000 nursing vacancies and more than 100,000 jobs unfilled overall in the NHS before the pandemic struck. While numbers of nurses and doctors have risen to record levels it has not been enough to meet the increased demand from more patients needing treatment.

The organisation’s statement concluded: “Emerging from this stage of the Covid-19 epidemic and managing its aftermath will present huge challenges to the NHS and wider care system, its staff and for government all of which will have to be addressed in time. However, representing staff and employers we are united in believing that tackling these workforce issues is the best recognition of the hard work and dedication of NHS during the pandemic and also will be essential if the NHS is to deliver for its patients in the months and years ahead and that.”