Call for urgent plan to address crippling NHS staff shortages

In tomorrow's Budget the NHS will receive an extra £5.9 billion to help clear the backlog of people waiting for tests and scans and to buy equipment and improve IT.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the cash would be "game-changing", but questions have been asked over whether it would address staff shortages that have worsened during the pandemic.

Shadow City Minister and Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden, said: "The pandemic has obviously put the NHS under huge pressure, both in terms of the direct treatment of Covid patients and the knock on effect on non-Covid issues.

"The issues of lengthening waiting lists and waiting times were both becoming increasing problems before the pandemic struck, though the last eighteen months has made them a lot worse.

"It is really important now that there is a proper plan put in place to deal with the backlog, or people will be waiting much longer for treatment, some of them with chronic and painful conditions.

"That will mean a plan not only for extra funding and equipment but also to meet the staffing needs of the NHS where there have been a number of shortages in recent times.

“What is still unclear is how much of the extra money raised through the National Insurance increase will actually get to social care. Funding social care properly remains one of the big challenges for the future."

John Spellar, Labour MP for Warley, said staff shortages needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency, and that training programmes had suffered a blow by the announcement of fresh delays to the Midland Met hospital in Smethwick.

He said: "As is so often the case with government announcements, it seems to be smoke and mirrors with an element of recycling old money.

"What they need to face up to is the need to increase training levels. That's why the further delays to the Midland Metropolitan Hospital are so disappointing, because that would be an ideal training venue."

Mike Wood, Conservative MP for Dudley South, said the extra funding was vital to help hospitals and GPs in the region to catch up with missed or delayed procedures.

"Everyone can see the need for this additional funding," he said.

"We need to catch up on all of those procedures that have been delayed during the pandemic.

"There are going to be a lot of diagnosis that have been missed that will need to be picked up, and it is important that waiting lists become shorter so that people can get the access to services they need, whether it be at a hospital or with a GP."

He said the funding would also help to build on increasing staffing numbers "so that people can get an even better service from the NHS".

Suzanne Webb, Conservative MP for Stourbridge, said the funding was necessary because Covid had "wreaked havoc" with NHS waiting times for tests, scans and treatment.

"We need to ensure people in the West Midlands who have waited patiently for treatment get the help they need as soon as possible," she added.

More than five million people are said to be waiting for NHS hospital treatment in England, with many of them waiting for more than a year.

A recent Health Foundation report estimated that an extra 1.1m staff will be needed to meet care demands by the end of the decade, while one in five existing staff are said to be considering leaving the NHS.

The £5.9bn is on top of a £36bn investment over three years that was announced in September..