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NHS Workforce
06 December 2022
Lead MP
Wes Streeting
Debate Type
General Debate
Tags
NHSTaxationEmployment
Other Contributors: 45
At a Glance
Wes Streeting raised concerns about nhs workforce in the House of Commons. Other MPs contributed to the debate.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Lead Contributor
Opened the debate
The National Health Service is facing the worst workforce crisis with shortages of doctors and nurses, leading to long waiting times for treatments and difficulties in accessing GP appointments, ambulance services, and operations. The Labour Party calls on the Government to end the non-domiciled tax status regime and use funds raised to train more medical staff, including doubling medical training places and delivering additional nursing placements.
Wes Streeting
Lab
Ilford North
Stressed that despite pandemic challenges, the Government's decade-long neglect of NHS staffing levels exacerbated current issues. Emphasised Labour’s plan to solve the crisis through significant investment in training more medical staff.
Alex Sobel
Lab Co-op
Leeds Central and Headingley
Provided an example of a paramedic who had been with a patient for over two hours, highlighting severe ambulance wait times. Asked if the situation has reached crisis point requiring immediate Labour plans.
Luke Evans
Con
Hinckley and Bosworth
Suggested that health issues are devolved across four nations with different party leaderships, implying a broader pandemic impact rather than specific government fault. Questioned the framing of the issue as purely political.
Critiqued the Labour plan for being vague and pointed to Wales as an example of poor socialist healthcare performance.
Emma Hardy
Lab
Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice
Raised a case about a constituent's wife who died after waiting 16 hours for an ambulance, arguing that the NHS is understaffed and underfunded.
Andy McDonald
Lab
Middlesbrough and Thornaby East
Agreed with Emma Hardy's case and highlighted issues at James Cook University Hospital regarding staffing shortages in both hospital and GP services.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Suggested that the government should provide better support and appropriate pay for NHS staff to reduce reliance on agency workers.
Warrington North
Discussed cancer diagnosis rates, particularly pancreatic cancer, emphasising early intervention's importance for survival.
Wera Hobhouse
Lib Dem
Bath
Pointed out the Government’s failure to listen to GPs regarding immigration rules that hinder GP recruitment efforts.
Helen Hayes
Lab
Dulwich and West Norwood
Highlighted the lack of investment in NHS workforce over 12 years, causing pressure on A&E due to insufficient GP availability.
Luke Evans
Con
Hinckley and Bosworth
Asked for details about Labour's plan to address medical training places and hospital capacity issues.
Daisy Cooper
Lib Dem
St Albans
Emphasised the importance of planning new hospitals with adequate space for future healthcare workers' training.
Peter Dowd
Lab
Bootle
Suggested using non-doms tax revenue to fund medical training places, amounting to about £3.2 billion annually.
Warrington North
Discussed the need for cutting-edge training facilities in new hospitals and criticised the Government’s lack of progress on this front.
Claire Hanna
SDLP
Belfast South and Mid Down
Stressed the importance of appropriate staffing levels to ensure a safe working environment for healthcare workers.
Yasmin Qureshi
Lab
Bolton South and Walkden
Critiqued Government Ministers for linking potential nurse strikes with Putin’s regime, finding it reprehensible.
Taiwo Owatemi
Lab
Coventry North West
Highlighted the issue of a cap on medical school applications despite high demand from British students.
Munira Wilson
Lib Dem
Twickenham
Focused on the increasing cases in child and adolescent mental health services, advocating for more early intervention measures.
Questioned the Government's protection of non-dom status and its motives behind this policy.
Discussed inflationary pressures affecting health delivery in Wales and suggested similar concerns for England.
Steve Barclay
Con
North East Cambridgeshire
Mr. Steve Barclay criticised Labour's healthcare policy, highlighting that more than a fifth of Wales' population are waiting for planned care and over 60,000 people have waited for more than two years. He pointed out the autumn statement which allocated an extra £6.6 billion for the NHS over the next two years, described as a significant funding increase by the chief executive of NHS England. Additionally, he mentioned that Labour did not address the uplift in social care announced during the autumn statement and the biggest funding increase for social care ever provided by any Government at £8 billion.
Steve Barclay
Con
North East Cambridgeshire
The Secretary of State emphasised the significant investment in NHS staff, including an increase of more than 2,300 doctors, nearly 4,000 new doctors since last year, and over 9,300 more nurses. He also highlighted investments such as £5.9 billion for diagnostic services, £800 million invested into the Royal Liverpool Hospital, and a £127 million investment in the NHS maternity workforce alongside international recruitment efforts to support staffing levels.
Wera Hobhouse
Lib Dem
Bath
The Liberal Democrat MP questioned whether the increase in GP appointments was meaningful for patients struggling to access primary care services. She emphasised that patients need timely access to healthcare and asked how the Secretary of State plans to address these issues.
Luke Evans
Con
Hinckley and Bosworth
The Conservative MP supported the Secretary of State's emphasis on integrated care systems, which aim to improve health services by integrating primary and secondary care, social care, preventive health measures, and county councils. He encouraged further empowerment for these boards to solve problems effectively.
Debbie Abrahams
Lab
Oldham East and Saddleworth
The Labour MP contrasted current NHS performance with the achievements of the previous Labour government in terms of waiting times for GP appointments, elective care, and cancer treatment. She questioned why her constituency now has fewer GPs despite increased demand.
Emma Hardy
Lab
Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice
The Labour MP highlighted significant staffing shortages in adult social care, with 30% vacancies that increase before Christmas due to retail offers. She stressed the importance of timely delivery of promised funding.
The Labour MP shared concerns from nurses about understaffing and insufficient shifts being covered, leading to extra unpaid hours worked for patient safety, highlighting ongoing staffing challenges despite Government investments.
Munira Wilson
Lib Dem
Twickenham
Called for a review of the high-cost area supplement, which is available in inner London but not outer London boroughs, causing issues with recruitment and retention.
Jamie Stone
Lib Dem
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Asked about what work was being done to ensure that senior colleagues are incentivised to take on extra lists in order to deal with the backlog, highlighting the issue of pensions as a retention problem.
Emphasised the impact of Brexit and visa issues on NHS workforce shortages, calling for assurances about collaboration between the Department of Health and Social Care and the Home Office. Raised concerns over staff pay levels in England compared to Scotland, citing specific examples from a Unison briefing.
Steve Brine
Con
Fareham
Discussed the Health and Social Care Committee's report on workforce issues in the NHS. Mentioned a shortage of hospital doctors and nurses, highlighted the need for proper workforce planning, noted the Government's commitment to publish an independently verified workforce plan. Emphasised the importance of reviewing working conditions, reducing work intensity, improving flexible working, addressing pension arrangements for senior doctors, and tackling demand challenges. Proposed focusing on prevention, cancer diagnosis, and predictive medicine.
Lyn Brown
Lab
Poplar, London
Across north-east London, the population is set to grow significantly in the next five years. We have the highest rate of NHS vacancies in London and a high staff turnover of almost 17% in nurses due to Brexit-related losses. The spending on agency staff is also extremely high at 10% of staffing budgets. Operating theatres struggle with understaffing, leading to delays that exacerbate patient backlogs. In Newham, maternity services are severely affected by staffing shortages, with a 19% vacancy rate on maternity wards and non-specialist nurses filling in for midwives. High-risk patients sometimes cannot be admitted due to lack of fully staffed beds, increasing their risk. The birth unit closures add costs as lower-risk births have to take place in hospitals. Staff shortages are causing more appointments to be missed, leading to higher NHS costs and potentially putting lives at risk. With the highest birth rate and diverse population in the country, addressing health inequalities is crucial but hindered by staffing issues. A decade of austerity has exhausted many staff members who are now over 55 years old, making the situation unsustainable.
Paul Bristow
Con
Peterborough
Mr Bristow discussed the challenges faced by the NHS, emphasising the need for better use of resources and increased productivity. He highlighted the additional £45.6 billion investment in healthcare due to the pandemic but argued that more needs to be done to ensure value for money. Mr Bristow suggested measures such as ensuring clinicians operate at the top of their licences, improving GP surgery efficiency, increasing surgical capacity utilisation, investing in innovation and technology, leveraging pharmacies more effectively, and implementing recommendations from organisations like NICE and GIRFT.
Taiwo Owatemi
Lab
Coventry North West
The Government are not providing essential working conditions for NHS nurses. There is a need to address poor staffing levels, recruit more midwives, improve diversity in recruitment, and utilise community pharmacists better.
Taiwo Owatemi
Lab
Coventry North West
Owatemi highlighted her personal connection to the issue by declaring that her mother is a practising nurse, adding a human element to the debate.
Emma Hardy
Lab
Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice
In Hull West and Hessle, there are serious delays in GP appointments and radiotherapy treatments. The ratio of GPs to patients is one of the lowest nationally, leading to numerous issues including delayed discharges from hospitals due to staff shortages. Emma Hardy highlights a significant decline in the proportion of cancer patients receiving timely radiotherapy treatment, citing staffing shortages as a primary reason. She emphasises that therapeutic radiographers are leaving their roles for better work-life balance and mentions the Government's delay in responding to this crisis despite prior warnings.
Clapham and Brixton Hill
The NHS is facing a severe staffing crisis, exacerbated by Brexit and poor working conditions. Midwives are particularly undervalued, with a shortage of over 2,000 midwives and high nurse vacancy rates. Pay cuts for healthcare staff since 2010 have contributed to the exodus of workers from the NHS. Bell Ribeiro-Addy argues that addressing pay is crucial to tackling recruitment and retention issues in the NHS and preventing strikes by essential personnel.
Daisy Cooper
Lib Dem
St Albans
The Liberal Democrats argue for the need to address workforce shortages in healthcare, including midwives who are often overburdened. Paramedics and ambulance staff work exhausting shifts with inadequate breaks and long waiting times for patients. The Government's failure to meet GP recruitment targets is frustrating and dangerous. Hospital infrastructure needs urgent investment as many hospitals are outdated and in dire need of repair.
Caroline Ansell
Con
Eastbourne
In response to Daisy Cooper, Caroline Ansell highlights a 25% increase in full-time staff over the past decade in Eastbourne. She also mentions positive developments regarding the assurance of 'once-in-a-generation' investment for a new hospital.
Richard Burgon
Lab
Leeds East
Richard Burgon criticises the Conservative Government's attack on NHS workers, claiming that it is their policies that have led to the current crisis. There are unprecedented workforce shortages with 133,000 vacancies in England and a record high of 47,000 nursing vacancies. He proposes scrapping non-dom tax status to fund more medical training places and nursing placements.
Karin Smyth
Lab
Bristol South
The NHS has a long history of welcoming and training healthcare workers from abroad, but the past decade has seen significant underinvestment in public health, capital spending, workforce education, and training. This neglect contributed to poor pandemic preparedness and ad hoc procurement processes during 2020. To address the current workforce crisis, there is a need for national initiatives such as staff retention incentives, involving further and higher education in retention work, regional solutions like re-establishing supportive networks above trust level, and local actions including support with housing, transport, pay, and career progression. MPs must understand their constituency’s specific issues to help build better healthcare services.
Salford
The NHS faces a severe workforce crisis due to decentralisation, marketisation, low pay, and austerity measures. A report by the Health Foundation shows the UK has spent 20% less per person on healthcare compared to similar European countries over the past decade, leading to widespread staff shortages and financial hardship for workers. The Government’s resistance to reasonable pay claims and reluctance to address these issues exacerbate the crisis. There are now plans for national walk-outs across the ambulance service and strikes by nurses, who cite inadequate staffing levels as a major concern. GMB, Unison, and Unite unions have confirmed that NHS staff will strike this month due to poor working conditions and in-work poverty. The Government must urgently address funding, pay, and patient safety issues through an immediate restorative pay rise for NHS staff and recruitment incentives.
Holly Lynch
Lab
Halifax
Expressed concerns about the fear and difficult experiences people face when accessing NHS care, highlighting staffing shortages across midwifery, paramedics, dentistry, and community pharmacies. She cited specific examples of midwife shortages, workforce exhaustion, ambulance delays, and dental appointment cancellations. Emphasised the need for a transformative skills plan to attract more staff and improve patient care, noting that Labour's commitment to train 10,000 additional nurses and midwives annually is crucial.
Heywood and Middleton
The NHS faces critical shortages of doctors, midwives, speech therapists, physiotherapists, and other specialists. Organisations like Unison and the TUC call for urgent measures to retain staff through fair pay rises and training programmes. The Government's focus on privatising the NHS has exacerbated staffing issues and patient care delays.
James Murray
Lab Co-op
Ealing North
The NHS crisis stems from Conservative neglect over 12 years, leading to severe workforce shortages and vacancies. Labour aims to address this by doubling medical school places to 15,000 annually, doubling district nurse training, adding 5,000 health visitors yearly, and creating 10,000 nursing and midwifery placements. Funding would come from abolishing non-dom tax status, raising £3.2 billion.
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