The government needs to tackle the workforce crisis in the NHS if it is to meet ambitious targets to reduce waiting lists, unions have claimed.
Today (6 January) prime minister Keir Starmer announced plans to cut waiting lists to no more than 18 weeks for NHS treatment in England, and launch a network of Community Diagnostic Centres where patients can go to routine appointments such as scans.
Currently, only 59% of patients meet the 18-week target, with 3 million having to wait longer. By March 2026, the government hopes this will rise to 65%, clearing a backlog of more than 450,000 patients.
NHS workforce crisis
The new diagnostic centres will be open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, the government said. There are also plans to open more surgical hubs that can carry out less complex procedures such as cataract surgeries.
The government also wants the NHS App to be improved so patients can monitor conditions and book consultations, as well as receive test results and ultimately reduce the number of missed appointments.
Starmer said the plans would deliver “greater choice and convenience for patients. Staff once again able to give the standard of care they desperately want to.”
But Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, said the government could not ignore the challenges faced by workers in the health service.
“After so many years of neglect and the running down of our NHS, it is important that this government is now ready to invest.
“But ministers must be in no doubt that any improvements will depend on tackling the recruitment and retention crisis that is gripping the service, driven by the years of real-term pay cuts imposed on workers by the previous government.”
Graham said NHS workers are “on their knees” with current demands, adding that expecting them to do more would be “both unacceptable and unachievable”.
“The government’s plans to cut waiting lists will only be successful if it puts resolving the real issues faced by NHS workers at the centre of its plans,” she said.
Professor Phil Banfield, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) Council, echoed Graham’s concerns. “Doctors have been just as frustrated as their patients by the lack of facilities to deliver care and want to bring waiting lists down,” he said.
“But the reality is that without the workforce to meet constantly rising demand, we will not see the progress we all hope for.”
Speaking to The Guardian, Dr Tim Cooksley, former president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said plans to reduce bureaucracy and speed up access to elective services were welcome. However, emergency care plans required urgent attention.
He said: “There is insufficient workforce and capacity to meet the demands of an increasingly ageing population with multiple health issues, with simply no resilience to cope with any excess strain, such as winter viruses.
“Hospitals are already bursting at the seams. The concept of continuing to ringfence elective beds whilst patients are dying, receiving degrading corridor care in emergency departments, is immoral and deluded.”
Cooksley has advocated a “whole-system” approach that includes social care, and that puts workforce reform at the heart.
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