• Question: Do you think there is a shortage of the staff in the NHS?

    Asked by JWattam to Adrian, Ali, Charnelle, Deborah, Kit, Phil, Rob on 10 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Deborah Draycott

      Deborah Draycott answered on 10 Nov 2017:

      Yes definitely. I know in general practice there is a shortage of both GPs and Practice Nurses, with job vacancies being difficult to fill. We need some young people to feel inspired to join us so that when I retire I have someone to look after me!

    • Photo: Robert Cullum

      Robert Cullum answered on 11 Nov 2017:

      There is definitely a shortage of staff! We often have gaps in both nursing and doctors in A and E and we often have to rely on locum and agency staff to help fill those gaps! It has a real knock on impact on the care we are able to provide and also the amount we spend on agency staff. It’s challenging though to solve this problem in the current atmosphere of austerity and I don’t know what the answer is!

    • Photo: Kit T

      Kit T answered on 12 Nov 2017:

      Absolutely, it’s a huge problem we see the effects of every day. Shortages in staff mean taking on extra work, often needing to stay late to get things done, and in some cases delays to patient care. You might hear that the NHS survives on the goodwill of its staff going above and beyond, and this is part of the reason why. Locum staff are often brought into cover gaps but not always, and it is expensive for the hospital/practice to hire them. Generally there is less continuity of care, as fewer staff means more shift work to cover shortages rather than a consistent team of colleagues. Admin staff are under increasing pressure to fill gaps, so there is often quite a bit of stress about how to manage. At the moment there isn’t money to pay for more staff, but we need them.

    • Photo: Philip Williams

      Philip Williams answered on 12 Nov 2017:

      Yes. There is a huge shortage of GPs and psychiatrists. If you do get into medical school and become a doctor it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever be unemployed.

    • Photo: Adrian Taylor

      Adrian Taylor answered on 13 Nov 2017:

      Depends on where you are in the country and the perception of the practice e.g. Care quality commission ratings and peoples opinions, we have not had a problem recruiting anyone for the last two years, rather we have waiting list of GP’s wanting to work here. But only a few miles either side of us the practices based in the two cities on our doorstep can’t recruit.

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