Report says NHS and social care staff burnout at emergency level

MPs have warned that NHS and social care staff in England are so burnt out that it has now become an “emergency” and risks the future of the health service.

A highly critical report said staff shortages had meant that workers were overstretched and exhausted, adding that although the problems existed before the pandemic, the pressures had been worsened by coronavirus.

Nursing and doctors’ unions welcomed the report, saying it highlighted the anxiety and stress that staff were facing.

The report, published earlier this week, said a key problem was that there was no accurate forecast of staff numbers needed for the next five to ten years, which it called “workforce planning”.

The report added that there needed to be a “total overhaul of the way the NHS does workforce planning” and that there should be 12-monthly reports published on staff numbers needed for the next five, ten and twenty years.

The report went on to say “It is clear that workforce planning has been led by the funding envelope available to health and social care rather than by demand and the capacity required to service that demand.”

The British Medical Association’s Dr David Wrigley, said “Health and care staff suffered stress and work-related anxiety before the pandemic but it is now far more serious and we believe the current level of staff burnout and stress presents a worrying risk to the future functioning of the health and care system and safe patient care.

“There’s an urgent need to address the severe workforce crisis facing health and care services, and – as called for by the BMA and others – the report also calls for continuous and transparent assessments of workforce shortages and future staffing requirements.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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