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The government has unveiled a new workforce plan for the NHS, which comes as a much-needed initiative in light of the health service’s 75th anniversary and its declining state. For years, there has been a lack of strategy to bridge the gap between the increasing demand for care and the available healthcare workers.
The plan rightly addresses the need for a substantial increase in the number of trained doctors and nurses. However, there are significant gaps that must be addressed, such as how to fund the additional staff and the absence of any mention of the 1.7 million-strong social care workforce, many of whom earn less than the minimum wage. Additionally, it is not just about training the future workforce, but also about retaining the existing one.
While the long-term plan is commendable, the immediate reality is that consultants have recently voted to go on strike, with junior doctors having already done so. In this regard, a timely study conducted by researchers from the Institute for Fiscal Studies highlights the consequences of doctors walking out, based on the 2016 junior doctors’ strikes, which were in response to a new contract.
The key findings of the study align with what hospital leaders have been warning about a potential repeat of these consequences. Although there was no overall decline in core care outcomes, such as mortality or emergency hospital readmission, due to the continuous provision of emergency care, numerous elective procedures (non-emergency) had to be canceled. This poses a bigger problem today, considering the significant treatment backlogs that currently exist.
Furthermore, the study reveals a concerning trend: hospitals affected by strikes had poorer outcomes for black emergency patients, who were more likely to be readmitted in the following weeks compared to white patients in the same hospital. Thus, during times of heightened pressure, black patients disproportionately suffered from inadequate care. Resolving these strikes falls under the government’s responsibility, but if they fail, hospital managers must ensure that this history of inequality does not repeat itself.
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