The exhaustion of NHS and social services staff has reached an ’emergency’ level and poses a risk to other services, MEPs warned.
In a very critical report, the Health and Social Care Committee called for immediate action to support the exhausted staff who have worked throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, he also pointed to long-standing and unresolved issues even before the pandemic.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) told MPs that before the start of the pandemic there were 50,000 vacant nursing positions in the UK, while the Royal College of Psychiatrists told the lack of staff was one of the main causes of burnout. in mental health services.
The report also indicates that the level of burnout of staff could pose a risk to the future of the services.
What the report says
In their new report, MEPs said: ‘The urgency that burnout has become will not be resolved without a complete overhaul of the way the NHS plans the workforce.
“After the pandemic, which revealed so many critical staff shortages, the least we can do for staff is to show that there is a long-term solution to these shortages, ultimately the biggest driver of burnout.”
MEPs said that while problems like excessive workloads cannot be resolved overnight, staff should be confident that a long-term solution is in place.
“The way the NHS plans the workforce is opaque at best and at worst responsible for the unacceptable pressure on the current workforce that existed even before the pandemic,” the study says.
“It is clear that workforce planning has been guided by the funding envelope available for health care and social services rather than the demand and capacity required to meet that demand. ”
MEPs said without an appropriate public statement on staffing needs for the next decade, “health and care workforce shortages will persist, to the detriment of both service delivery and staff.”
They said they “again recommend” that Health Education England publish “objective, transparent and independently audited” annual reports on the workforce needs for health care and social services that cover the needs of the workforce. next five to 20 years.
“Burnout presents a dangerous risk for services”
Tory MP and former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is chairman of the committee, said: ‘Burnout in the NHS and healthcare systems now presents an extraordinarily dangerous risk to the future functioning of both services.
“The lack of proper and detailed workforce planning has contributed to this and has been exposed by the pandemic with its many demands on staff.
“However, staff shortages existed long before Covid-19.
“Staff face unacceptable pressure with chronic excessive workload identified as a key driver of burnout.
“Clearing the backlog caused by the pandemic simply will not be possible unless these issues are addressed.
“Obtaining a long-term solution requires a complete overhaul of workforce planning.
“These plans should be guided by the need to ensure that the long-term supply of doctors, nurses and other clinicians is not constrained by short-term gaps in the number of people trained.
“If not, it will not only lead to more burnout, but more expense for locum physicians and agency nurses. ”
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Source: www.times-series.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-06-09 06:00:00
