Fix NHS staffing crisis to tackle waiting lists backlog, warn MPs
A long-term plan to fix the staffing crisis in the NHS is needed to cut record waiting lists for treatment, the government is being warned.
Currently, nearly six million people in England are waiting for routine operations and procedures - many of whom are in pain.
A report from MPs says the government needs to address staff shortages - or NHS workers will quit.
There have been repeated warnings over the length of hospital waiting lists in England. As of September 2021, a record 5.8 million patients were waiting for surgery - such as hip or knee replacements - with 300,000 waiting more than a year compared with just 1,600 before the pandemic.
In the autumn Budget, the government announced an extra £5.9bn for the NHS in England to help clear the backlog. This was on top of another funding package in September to create an extra nine million checks, scans and operations.
But in its report published today, the Commons health and social care select committee said the health service was hugely understaffed and was facing an "unquantifiable challenge" in tackling the backlog.
Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary who now chairs the committee, said the NHS was short of 93,000 workers and there was "no sign of any plan to address this".
He described the staffing crisis as "entirely predictable", adding: "The current wave of Omicron is exacerbating the problem, but we already had a serious staffing crisis, with a burnt-out workforce."
"Far from tackling the backlog, the NHS will be able to deliver little more than day-to-day firefighting unless the government wakes up to the scale of the staffing crisis facing the NHS."
Source: BBC News, 6 January 2022