NHS CAN’T FILL 100,000 JOBS

Patients ‘in peril’ because 1 in 12 posts is unfilled

THE NHS is “dangerously” understaffed with 100,000 vacancies, experts have revealed.

One in 12 posts is unfilled – enough to staff 10 large hospitals.

They include 35,000 nurse positions and nearly 10,000 for doctors.

The bombshell figures were revealed in a finance report showing hospitals are £1.3billion in the red.

The overspend was partly blamed on the need to cover rota gaps with overtime and temps.

Nigel Edwards, of the Nuffield Trust think-tank, said the NHS was “dangerously” short of staff. He added: “In some ways, the lack of crucial workers is an even bigger problem than the lack of funding.”

The quarterly report revealed yesterday by regulator NHS Improvement showed a year-to-date deficit of £1.3billion in England, £365million worse than expected.

Janet Davies, General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said the situation left the NHS at risk of another Stafford Hospital scandal, when up to 1,200 patients died because of poor care between 2005 and 2009. She said: “Evidence shows that standards of patient care rise and fall as nurse numbers do.”

The Health Department said: “We have announced the biggest ever expansion of training places for both doctors and nurses.”