BMJ  2007;334:61 (13 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39090.709803.4E

News

Leaked report exposes mismatch in NHS staffing levels

¹ London

Huge disparities between projected numbers of NHS staff and the levels of personnel the health service actually needs—or can afford—have been shown in a government report leaked to the Health Service Journal.

The draft NHS pay and workforce strategy for 2008-11 predicts a shortfall of 14 000 nurses and 1200 GPs but a surplus of 3200 consultants by 2010.

As a partial solution the report suggests that a lower paid "sub-consultant" grade be created for doctors who have newly acquired their certificate of specialist training, but the suggestion has prompted an angry response from the BMA.

Jonathan Fielden, chairman of the BMA's consultants' committee, said: "It is absurd to suggest that the NHS in England needs fewer hospital consultants. Patients deserve the best possible care, not a dumbed down service based around a sub-consultant grade."

The document says that the NHS must brace itself for many more job losses in the coming year. It estimates that more than 20 000 nurses and other NHS staff will have lost their jobs when the current financial year ends in April, as trusts seek to contain spiralling deficits. And an additional 2.7% of the workforce—or 37 000 posts—may be axed in 2007-8, the report says.

This statistic, combined with the document's predictions of dangerous staff shortages within just four years, has led to accusations by opposition parties of "chaos" and "panic" in the Department of Health.

The Tories' shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: "This latest fiasco is the bleakest possible start to 2007 for the NHS." He said that ministers' fears of damaging headlines over NHS debt meant that trusts were under pressure to cut costs at any price. "The financial crisis in the NHS is now driving government policy," he added.

The Liberal Democrats' health spokesman, Norman Lamb, said: "Shortages are coming even as hospitals continue to axe nursing jobs. Clearly there's chaos at the heart of the system. And it could spell disaster for patients when there's not enough staff to care for them properly."

The report cites cuts in nurse training posts because of financial pressures and an imminent wave of retirement in an ageing workforce as reasons for the predicted nursing crisis.

The document says that the BMA is in part to blame for the "surplus" of consultants, because it failed to work with the government last year to address the issue. It goes on to say, however, that in the longer term more specialist doctors will be needed, hence the requirement for a more "affordable approach." A recent reduction in the recruitment of GP registrars is blamed for the projected shortfall in family doctors.

A health department spokesman said that the report was only a draft version. He noted that it was "prudent to identify potential risks and contingencies."

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Watkins, R. E., Cooke, F. C., Donovan, R. J., MacIntyre, C. R., Itzwerth, R., Plant, A. J. (2008). Tackle the Problem When It Gets Here: Pandemic Preparedness Among Small and Medium Businesses. Qual Health Res 18: 902-912 [Abstract]