NHS wage boost would almost pay for itself
51% rise in number of leavers
MINISTERS would recoup nearly half of the cost of lifting the NHS pay cap though taxes and lower welfare payments, a think-tank says. The price of Jeremy Hunt lifting wages in line with inflation would be £1.8billion per year by 2019/20, according to the IPPR. But the actual cost would fall to about £950million when the benefits are taken into account. A senior analyst said: “A large portion is recycled almost immediately.”
UP to a third of health workers in some NHS trusts have quit in the past year.
The number of full-time nurses and health visitors in England dropped by 469 between April 2016 and April 2017, according to a bombshell Health Foundation report.
Staff retention is a huge issue with the leaver rate varying from under 10% in some trusts to more than 30% in some acute and mental health trusts.
The findings came after the Nursing and Midwifery Council revealed more staff were leaving the profession than joining for the first time on record. In July, the overall number of leavers was 34,941 compared with 23,087 in 2012/13 – up 51%.
According to NHS Confederation, in March 2017 the NHS employed 285,893 nurses and health visitors. But the UK trains fewer nurses than similar countries.
In 2014, we had 29 graduates per 100,000 population while the average in nations under the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development umbrella was 45. The NHS will still not have enough nurses by 2021, the Health Foundation warns. And the high number leaving before retirement age is a key factor with 84,000 expected to go early over the next five years. Health Education England figures in the report Rising Pressure: The NHS Workforce Challenge show in 2016 England was short of 29,000 nurses.
In May, the Royal College of Nursing revealed one in nine posts are unfilled, about 40,000 across England. RCN chief Janet Davies said: “The drop this year is worrying and particularly damaging when nurses are having to cope with rising numbers of patients.”
Lib Dem health spokeswoman Baroness Jolly said the Tories should be “addressing the recruitment crisis”.
The Department of Health said: “The NHS has the staff it needs to provide the best care.”