NHS Providers calls on parties to address workforce concern

NHS Providers has called on politicians to address rapidly growing concerns over the NHS workforce in the general election campaign.

The body warned that a combination of pay restraint, the impact of Brexit and the absence of a robust long term NHS workforce strategy are taking their toll. 

In a seven point policy paper, NHS Providers has confirmed that trust leaders are now reporting that finding and keeping the right number of people with the right skills needed to deliver high quality care has become their biggest challenge. It warned that the growing workforce problems mean that NHS services are having to close unnecessarily, the timeliness and quality of care patients receive is being adversely affected and the burden on NHS staff is becoming unsupportable.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Workforce concerns are now the number one NHS priority. Growing problems of recruitment and retention are making it harder for trusts to ensure patient safety. Unsustainable staffing gaps are quickly opening up in hospitals, mental health and community trusts and ambulance services.

“Years of pay restraint and stressful working conditions are taking their toll. Pay is becoming uncompetitive. Significant numbers of trusts say lower paid staff are leaving to stack shelves in supermarkets rather than carry on working in the NHS. And we are getting consistent reports of retention problems because of working pressures in the health service causing stress and burnout.

At the same time, trusts are reporting that the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, and the failure to reassure EU nationals about their long-term future, mean that vital recruitment from EU countries is dropping rapidly.

“Yet all the evidence shows that staff who are happy and motivated provide better care.

“NHS Trusts want to see strategic solutions in place dealing with pay, the supply and demand of staff, retention and training. But they tell us they see no sustainable long term plans in place.”