Hospitals across the UK are running with 20 per cent fewer children’s doctors than they need on daily shifts, new research shows.
NHS staff are facing “unacceptable” pressures as paediatric units report a shortfall of 20 per cent in doctors and trainees on shift, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has warned.
Top doctors have said the government’s plans to bring down waiting lists would be “doomed to fail” if the workforce gaps for children’s services were not filled.
A report, shared exclusively with The Independent, also revealed the workforce gaps in the majority of areas lasted either 3-6 months or six months to a year.
Professor Steve Turner, president of the RCPCH, said the gaps were having a detrimental impact on the wellbeing, morale and training of doctors and ultimately impacted patient care.
He said: “This report highlights how paediatricians are being stretched far too thin every day. It is completely unacceptable that our current paediatric services are only operating at 80 per cent capacity when the level of demand on these services is now higher than ever…We cannot allow 80 per cent to become the new normal.
“Our children and the clinicians who serve them deserve more. Investing in and reforming paediatric services is not only valuable but is fundamental to the future health and economic wellbeing of our country.”
The college’s survey also warned that 48 per cent of paediatricians said they had difficulties balancing personal and work life.
Last week prime minister Sir Keir Starmer affirmed the government’s pledge to meet the NHS target to have 92 per cent of patients seen within 18 weeks of referral.
The RCPCH warned the NHS’ waiting list for children’s care remains “stubbornly high” as lists hit 347,863 in October 2024. The backlog for those waiting more than a year hit 11,500 in the same month.
RCPCH Officer for Health Services, Dr Ronny Cheung, warned: A rota gap rate of 20 per cent is hugely significant when it comes to trying to tackle the exceedingly long waits that children and young people face in the UK. Currently, 41 per cent of children are not being seen by the NHS’s 18-week target and the number of children waiting over a year for treatment remains far too high.”
“We welcome the Government’s focus on the current NHS waiting lists, but any plans to tackle this will be doomed to fail if we do not have the full quota of paediatricians to implement them.”
Last year The Independent revealed NHS leaders had raised the alarm over the children’s waiting list which was rising faster than the waiting list for adults.
The college in a fresh warning over the growing gap said: “Children are often waiting longer than adults to access healthcare, paediatric services have not recovered at the same rate as adult health services, and there is a growing gap between demand and capacity across child health services.”
The Department for Health and Social Care was approached for comment.
