Persistent understaffing in the NHS is creating a serious risk to patient safety, MPs have warned in a damning report. Health and social care services in England face the 'greatest workforce crisis in their history', with almost half a million jobs needed in the health sector by the early part of the next decade.
The cross-party Health and Social Care Committee added that the Government has no credible strategy to make the situation better. In the new report from the committee, research by the Nuffield Trust also highlighted how there are 12,000 more hospital doctors needed in the sector and that NHS England is short of over 50,000 nurses and midwives.
It said maternity services are 'under unsustainable pressure', while the number of full-time equivalent GPs also fell by more than 700 over three years to March 2022. Projections suggest an extra 475,000 jobs will be needed in health and an extra 490,000 jobs in social care by the early part of the next decade.
