Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Government needs to do more to support the health and social care workforce, who have...
Conclusion
Government needs to do more to support the health and social care workforce, who have been under constant pressure during the pandemic, to ensure its resilience going forward. The pandemic has compounded pre-existing challenges in the health and social care sectors. In February 2020, the NHS had about 40,000 nursing vacancies and 9,000 vacancies for medical staff, while patient waiting times were continuing to slip and the number of patients on waiting lists for non-urgent treatment was rising. Longstanding staffing issues and backlogs, arising from failures in workforce planning and recruitment, have exacerbated the impact of the pandemic not only on the public, but also on the health workforce. NHS and frontline workers, already under pressure before the pandemic, have had to deal with the mental and physical strain of the response and are now tackling backlogs whilst carrying high numbers of vacancies. The NHS estimated in December 2020 that it had nearly 89,000 full-time equivalent vacancies across secondary care settings in 8 Initial lessons from the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic England. We are concerned about the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of key workers and burnout levels, which may result in more individuals leaving the medical profession and even higher vacancies rates going forward. This makes the publication of the long overdue NHS People Plan even more urgent. Recommendation: The Department should write to us by 31 October 2021 setting out what it is doing to provide mental health and emotional support to NHS staff, what metrics it is using to track the effectiveness of the measures adopted, and how it is performing against those metrics. It should also write to us by 31 December 2021 to provide an update on the substantive long-term NHS workforce plan to ensure the resilience of the health and social care workforce. Initial lessons from the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic 9 1 Lessons from the government’
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
6: PAC conclusion: Government needs to do more to support the health and social care workforce, who have been under constant pressure during the pandemic, to ensure its resilience going forward. 6: PAC recommendation: The Department should write to us by 31 October 2021 setting out what it is doing to provide mental health and emotional support to NHS staff, what metrics it is using to track the effectiveness of the measures adopted, and how it is performing against those metrics. It should also write to us by 31 December 2021 to provide an update on the substantive long-term NHS workforce plan to ensure the resilience of the health and social care workforce. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: December 2021 6.2 The government recognises that pressures on the workforce throughout the pandemic have been extremely high and is committed to providing the workforce with the support it needs now and in the longer term to ensure its resilience. 6.3 At an early stage of the pandemic, the government prioritised the need for enhanced mental health and wellbeing support. NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) has invested £43 million in mental health hubs in 2021-22, building on the £15 million which was invested to establish these last year. The hubs provide outreach and assessments services to ensure staff receive rapid access to evidenced based mental health services. The 40-system wide mental health hubs are being rolled out nationally, operating at ICS level, meaning any health and care staff within the ICS area can access the hub for support. 6.4 DHSC has recently commissioned Health Education England (HEE) to undertake ‘Framework 15’. This will set out the strategic drivers of future workforce demand and supply including, but not limited to, demographics, science, the nature of work and public expectations. 6.5 While previous iterations of Framework 15 have focused on healthcare, this version will also include registered professionals working in social care, such as nurses and occupational therapists. This reflects the interlinked nature of health and social care as well as the introduction of integrated care systems. 6.6 HEE will lead the work working closely with DHSC, NHSEI and Skills for Care. They will engage widely over autumn and winter 2021 bringing in views from staff, patients / service users, carers and their representatives with a final publication planned for Spring 2022. 6.7 DHSC will write to the Committee as directed in the recommendation.