NHS is getting worse, survey shows

Rota gaps, reduced access to care and poor morale are some of the key findings from the BMA’s latest quarterly survey of doctors which suggest the NHS is worsening.

Staff gaps in hospitals and long-standing vacancies in GP surgeries combined with worsening patient access to primary care and mental health services at local levels, have been highlighted in the report for the fourth quarter of 2017.

Nine hundred doctors from all branches of practice responded to the survey last year.

71 per cent of hospital doctors said they had experienced rota gaps in their departments, with 65 per cent reporting they had had unfilled posts - 80 per cent of which had remained vacant for six months or more.

Among GPs, 47 per cent reported GP vacancies, with 73 per cent of the 47 saying they had had positions going unfilled for six months or more.

The survey’s results come as the NHS continues to struggle with one of the worst winer crises in recent history.

Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said: “These figures highlight doctors’ concerns about a decline in services and widespread staff shortages. As doctors, we want to be able to provide the best possible care for patients, but access and quality of care are being affected by staffing and financial pressures.

“The result is delays in patients being treated, and doctors juggling large numbers of patients to compensate for staff shortages. This isn’t safe for patients and it isn’t sustainable for doctors.

“With pressures rising year-on-year, we are calling on politicians to act now. We urgently need a long-term solution to the staffing and funding pressures facing the NHS, otherwise it simply won’t be able to provide the safe and high-quality care that patients deserve and doctors want to be able to deliver.”