'UK's health service heading towards acute staff shortage'

BRITAIN’S National Health Service (NHS) is set to face acute staff shortage as many senior doctors are planning to retire in the coming times and more trainees are expected to opt for flexible working, medical leaders have warned, calling on the health and social care secretary Sajid Javid to give the NHS “more capacity”.

As the NHS celebrated its 73rd birthday on Monday (5), Royal College of Physicians (RCP) revealed that the health service is heading towards an acute staff crisis as more than a quarter of senior consultant physicians are expected to retire within three years, many within 18 months. Additionally, about 56 per cent of trainees entering the NHS are interested in working part-time, said the RCP, while one-fifth of the doctors already work part-time.

Sparking fears there will be too few medics in the pipeline to replace the doctors headed for retirement, the RCP has called for doubling of medical school places to avoid staff shortages worsening in the future, increased funding for social care and actions to address health inequalities to reduce demands upon the NHS.

Detailing a “catch-22” situation, the RCP cited a recent survey done on 25,500 members to claim that 43 per cent of doctors have not reverted to their original working pattern, with well over half of respondents (57 per cent ) now working from home. 

More flexible working pattern is now proving to be a double challenge for the NHS trusts, with 79 per cent cited “not enough medical staff” as a prime reason for not being able to provide the flexibility to its staff, the RCP said.

RCP president Andrew Goddard said: “It is right that we should celebrate the achievements of healthcare staff during the pandemic as we mark the NHS’ birthday, but the pressures we have faced have been greater than they needed to be because of existing staffing shortages.”

“If we do not address this problem we will have much less to celebrate in future.”

Referring to “wider cultural shift” in the working pattern, Goddard said that there is a need to find ways to attract more people to work in the NHS and retain them, if a majority of trainees coming into the system are keen to work part-time."

“The NHS has recognised that and wants to offer flexible working – but it is stuck in a true Catch-22 situation where it cannot do the very thing needed to attract more staff because it doesn’t have enough staff at the moment,” Goddard said.