NHS is ‘underfunded and underdoctored’

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has branded the NHS as ‘underfunded, underdoctored and overstretched’ in a new report.

The report, ‘Underfunded. Underdoctored. Overstretched. The NHS in 2016’, shows that 85 per cent of physicians believe that present healthcare funding is insufficient to meet the demand for services.

With the demand for NHS services increasing annually by four per cent, the report states that NHS funding will only increase by 0.2 per cent a year to 2020. This means that ‘money to transform services risks being sucked into a financial black hole’.

The RCP is calling for a new NHS budget that meets the rising demands for healths services, set realistic targets for efficiency savings, protect funds for transformation and invest in the long-term stability of the NHS.

The RCP also highlights how the number of medical students has fallen alongside a shortage of doctors training to be medical specialists. Seven-tenths of trainee physicians now report working on a rota with a permanent gap. Additionally, this also affects consultant physician recruitment, with hospitals failing to fill two-fifths of advertised posts. Nurse shortages have increased the pressure, with 96 per cent of trainee doctors reporting gaps in nursing rotas.

The RCP, therefore, highlights the need to increase the number of medical students and doctors training to be hospital specialists and incentivise doctors to work in the most challenging and in-demand areas of medicine.

All of this leaves NHS staff feeling overstretched. Stuck in-between rising demands and cut budgets, the report emphasises how 80 per cent of trainees experience excessive stress because of their job, 75 per cent go through at least one shift a month without water; and, on average, they work an extra five weeks a year on top of their normal hours. Perhaps most alarming is the statistic that 95 per cent of trainees warn that poor staff morale harms patient safety.

The report consequently explains how the RCP will work with its member doctors to find new solutions to workforce pressures, push for action from across government and the NHS and continue to showcase the very best of medicine. In late 2016, the RCP will launch a new campaign to value and support doctors working in the NHS.

Professor Jane Dacre, the president of the RCP, said: “As a doctor, I realise that this is a tough diagnosis for the NHS. However, a diagnosis is the first step towards working with colleagues to find solutions. We are keen to find the best treatment for the NHS over the coming weeks, months and years.”

Paul Briddock, director of policy at the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), said: “The dialogue needs to focus on what the NHS can and cannot afford to deliver. The NHS is currently living beyond its means, and we share the report’s sentiment that this cannot be sustained in the long term. Many efforts are being made across the service – with finance teams, clinicians and management working closely together – but these changes take time and need to be implemented correctly.”