NHS understaffing poses 'serious risk to patient safety', MPs say in damning report
Persistent understaffing in the NHS is creating a serious risk to patient safety, MPs have warned in a damning report. Health and social care services in England face the 'greatest workforce crisis in their history', with almost half a million jobs needed in the health sector by the early part of the next decade.
It comes as the Manchester Evening News reported the warnings from the region's health chiefs, who also said Covid-19 is continuing to pile pressure on an already strained NHS. Staff absences as a result of coronavirus are seeing shortages in hospitals, GP surgeries, and community care. “The persistent understaffing of the NHS now poses a serious risk to staff and patient safety both for routine and emergency care. It also costs more as patients present later with more serious illness. But most depressing for many on the frontline is the absence of any credible strategy to address it” it added.
Health and Social Care Committee chairman and Tory MP Jeremy Hunt said: “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. Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, which is part of the NHS Confederation, said the report “once again highlights the extent of the workforce crisis now facing both the NHS and social care”.
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