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WORKFORCE ISSUES Five Y ear Forward View: staff shortage challenges
The Health Foundation, an independent healthcare charity, has published a report on the workforce in the English NHS, which concludes that the greatest threats to the delivery of the Five Year Forward View are funding constraints and staff shortages.
The NHS Five Year Forward View was first published on 23 October 2014 and set out a new shared vision for the future of the NHS based around new models of care. NHS England’s Chief Executive Simon Stevens outlined how action should be taken on four fronts, by calling on the health service to: l Do more to tackle the root causes of ill health, with hard-hitting action on obesity, alcohol and other major health risks.
l Commit to giving patients more control of their own care, including the option of combining health and social care.
l Change to meet the needs of a population that lives longer, for the millions of people with long-term conditions, and for all patients who want person centred care. This means breaking down the boundaries between family doctors and hospitals, between physical and mental health and between health and social care.
l Develop and deliver the new models of care, with more investment in the workforce, technology and innovation.
However, the Health Foundation has warned that funding constraints and workforce shortages are jeopardising the delivery of the Five Year Forward View and is calling for urgent action. Staffing matters; funding counts examines the profile and features of the current workforce; health labour market trends; relevant international data and comparisons from other countries; and a series of specific pressure points in the English healthcare workforce. Two professions which are facing
particular shortages are examined in detail, and identified as areas that continue to need a strong policy focus: l Nursing, with the National Audit Office estimating that the NHS was short of around 28,000 nurses, midwives
and health visitors in 2014.
l General Practice, where recruitment and retention are major issues, as well as an ageing workforce, with one in five GPs aged 55 or older.
Key findings Key findings of the report include:
l Mismatches between funding and staffing levels, along with repeated reorganisation, have led to a ‘boom and bust’ approach to the NHS frontline.
l The less costly, reactive and short-term solutions – being used by national and local leaders to tackle current problems – are quick fixes, and will only put a sticking plaster on deep-seated and systemic problems for the NHS.
l More effective use of temporary staff and international recruitment can help to buy time while a more long-term, sustainable approach is implemented
l Investment in current staff should not be disadvantaged by an over-emphasis on introducing new roles; some new roles are necessary but will not have a major impact unless there is significantly more central support for scale up.
l Policymakers need to look at how targeted and aligned policies covering the effective use of temporary staff, retention of existing employees and international recruitment, can be used to address current shortages in order to buy time, while a more long-term, sustainable approach is introduced.
OCTOBER 2016
WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM I 19
July 2016 Research
Staffing matters;
funding counts Workforce profile and trends in the English NHS James Buchan, Ian Seccombe and Anita Charlesworth
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