England needs 12,000 doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives to fill vacancies, according to a report by the multiparty Health and Social Care Committee released on Monday.
The persistent understaffing of the NHS poses a very serious risk to the safety of patients and NHS staff themselves, for both routine medical treatment and emergencies, the study warned.
The text also points out that, besides rising costs as patients are treated when they are already very serious, the most depressing thing for first-line staff is the lack of a credible strategy on the part of the government to solve the problem.
The result is that the workforce is exhausted and many are considering leaving, and when that happens, the pressure on their colleagues increases, he added.
According to members of the parliamentary committee, the Treasury and Customs Departments need to be more active in applying the minimum wage as some 17,000 social workers are paid less than the statutory base rate of £9.50 ($11.43) an hour.
The Principal of England’s College of Nursing, Patricia Marquis, welcomed the publication of the study and felt that the conclusion that the workforce crisis is endangering the safety of patients and healthcare workers should compel ministers to act.
Christina McAnea, general secretary of the union that brings together public health workers, blamed the authorities for the exodus of porters, assistants and other NHS workers for not paying a salary that helps them fight inflation.
The government had years to improve the workforce but did little, he said.
The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, through one of its spokesmen, assured that the staff crisis is being worked on and that 4,000 doctors and about 10,000 nurses more will be hired this year than in 2020.
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