NHS workers at breaking point

An independent panel report on the health and social care workforce in England is a “shameful indictment” of the government, according to the physiotherapists’ CSP union. 


The union reported that the health and social care committee expert panel report had rated as “inadequate”seven of the government’s commitments across three policy areas: planning for the workforce, building a skilled workforce, and wellbeing at work. A second committee report examined recruitment, training and retention. 


Reacting to the first report, the RCM midwives’ union said its members “are breaking their backs to ensure safe and high-quality care against increasingly overwhelming odds, often to the detriment of their own mental and physical health”. 


Midwives are “walking away from ‘the best job in the world’ because they are overworked, burnt out and feel undervalued”, it added. 


RCN nurses’ union director Patricia Marquis said: “That persistent understaffing in all care settings poses a serious risk to staff and patient safety should shock ministers into action.” 


Meanwhile, more than a third of ambulance workers (35%) have been involved in cases where a patient’s death was linked to delay, according to an exclusive GMB general union survey for the ITV Tonight programme. 


Among other things, the polling also revealed that 85% of ambulance workers have witnessed delays which have seriously affected a patient’s recovery, and 82% feel the current pressure puts them at an unacceptable level of stress.