NHS staffing fears over part-time consultants
Health service is facing its ‘greatest workforce crisis in history’ as report reveals exodus of full-time staff
Up to 69 per cent of NHS consultants in some specialities are only working part-time, it has emerged, as MPS warn that patients are at risk from a critically understaffed healthcare service. A report from the health and social care committee concluded providers in England were facing “the greatest workforce crisis in their history”. About a quarter of consultants do not work full-time, MPS said, with the figure rising to almost seven in 10 in palliative medicine.
UP TO 69 per cent of NHS consultants in some specialities are only working part-time, it has emerged, as MPS warn that patients are at risk from a critically understaffed healthcare service. A report from the health and social care committee concluded healthcare providers in England are facing “the greatest workforce crisis in their history” with little being done to remedy the situation.
About a quarter of consultants do not work full-time, MPS said, with the figure rising to almost seven in 10 in palliative medicine. Among younger doctors, 30 per cent of paediatrics trainees are opting for part-time work, a figure set to rise to 60 per cent by 2040, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said in the report. Prof Dame Helen Stokes-lampard, chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, told the committee there had been a “generational trend” of people valuing home life over employment.
Nuffield Trust research for the report shows the NHS in England is short 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives, at a time when the health service is struggling to deal with the Covid backlog.
MPS also warned maternity services are “under unsustainable pressure” while the number of full-time GPS fell by more than 700 over three years to March 2022.
Jeremy Hunt, chairman of the committee, said: “Persistent understaffing in the NHS poses a serious risk to staff and patient safety, a situation compounded by the absence of a long-term plan by the government to tackle it.
“We now face the greatest workforce crisis in history in the NHS and in social care with still no idea of the number of additional doctors, nurses and other professionals we actually need. NHS professionals know there is no silver bullet to solve this problem but we should at least be giving them comfort that a plan is in place. This must be a top priority for the new prime minister.”
The figures emerged a day after the Government’s biennial GP Worklife Survey showed that almost one in five GPS now works an average of 25.7 hours per week – with many filling the rest of their time with private practice.
The average family doctor now works 38.5 hours per week, a fall since 2001 when the average working week was 47.7 hours. A third of GPS are considering leaving within five years, according to the Worklife Survey, with the Royal College of GPS claiming it is “no longer feasible” to just be a GP, despite an average salary of £100,700 a year before tax.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said it is “growing the health and social care workforce, with over 4,000 more doctors, and 9,600 more nurses compared to last year, and over 1,400 more doctors in general practice compared to March 2019”.