25 July 2023
Strikes in the NHS have been widespread in the last year with clinicians and their Trade Unions urging the government to do more to retain staff within the NHS. These strikes have led up to the most recent action taken by trainee and consultant doctors, who collectively walked out for seven days of strike action from 13th-18th of July and 20th-21st of July respectively.
These actions are following earlier strikes by other NHS workers in Nursing, Ambulance Services, Emergency Care and General Hospital Support Staff such as Porters. The British Medical Association (BMA), the Trade Union for Doctors in the NHS, have also confirmed they will be announcing new strike dates in August for their consultant members.
Speaking about the wave of industrial action in the NHS, Sarah Campbell, BSR CEO, said, “This wave of industrial disputes within the NHS has been incredibly tough for every BSR member who has made the difficult decision to go out on strike, because the number one priority of all NHS workers is to provide excellent care for every patient.”
“What these actions are telling us loud and clear, is that if we are to achieve that excellent standard of care every NHS clinician needs to feel their work is valued. Far too many nurses, doctors and other NHS staff are leaving the health service, 169,512 in the last year alone – an increase of 20,000 on the previous year. This heavy attrition rate is increasing the workload of the staff who remain, and the workdays lost in the NHS to stress, and mental health reasons are on the rise – with over six million workdays being lost in 2022.
“We, therefore, need to see every measure being taken to keep NHS workers in active service so that ambitious recruitment programmes, including the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan, can start to increase the total number of workers on the frontline.”
The NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan was published by the NHS earlier this month and has set out how the health service plans to increase the number of frontline workers by expanding domestic training and recruitment, as well as by diversifying the training routes for students to include things like medical apprenticeships. The plan is set to run until 2036 - 2037 with reviews and performance measurements being carried out at least every two years.
Sarah Campbell continued, “It’s excellent to see the NHS finally publish its long overdue strategy for the NHS workforce and BSR is looking forward to working with government and the health service to ensure the expansion in more generalist clinicians set out in the plan equates to the growth in Rheumatology specialists we know are needed to get care up to NICE standards.
BSR’s People We Need campaign has evidenced the number of clinical staff needed to deliver excellent rheumatic care across the country, and the positive impact that increased workforce could have on patients and the economy. But we are absolutely clear both recruitment and retention of staff are essential for these ambitions to be met.”
In other news the National Audit Office (NAO) earlier this week published a report into the progress of the government’s New Hospital Programme. The report concluded that the condition of the NHS Estate has seriously deteriorated in recent years due to underinvestment, with seven entire NHS hospitals, and parts of several others, known to be structurally unsound and needing replacement.
Commenting on the report Sarah Campbell said, “The condition of the NHS estate is a real concern for BSR members, and this NAO report highlights the critical need for investment in the physical infrastructure of the NHS. We welcome plans to build a fit for purpose NHS workforce, but clinicians also need the buildings and support infrastructure around them to enable high quality care for patients.”
You can read more about BSR’s People We Need campaign here, and support the campaign by taking our online action here.