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Securing a sustainable and fit-for-purpose UK health and care workforce

Authors :
Azeem Majeed
Emma Pitchforth
Elias Mossialos
Jill Macleod Clark
Charlotte Johnston-Webber
Ciaran O'Neill
Michael Woods
Miqdad Asaria
Margaret Foster
Alistair McGuire
Moira K. B. Whyte
Anita Charlesworth
Andrew Street
Michael Anderson
Source :
Anderson, M, O'Neill, C, Clark, J M, Street, A, Woods, M, Johnston-Webber, C, Charlesworth, A, Whyte, M, Foster, M, Majeed, A, Pitchforth, E, Mossialos, E, Asaria, M & McGuire, A 2021, ' Securing a sustainable and fit-for-purpose UK health and care workforce ', The Lancet, pp. 1-20 . https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00231-2
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

Approximately 13% of the total UK workforce is employed in the health and care sector. Despite substantial workforce planning efforts, the effectiveness of this planning has been criticised. Education, training, and workforce plans have typically considered each health-care profession in isolation and have not adequately responded to changing health and care needs. The results are persistent vacancies, poor morale, and low retention. Areas of particular concern highlighted in this Health Policy paper include primary care, mental health, nursing, clinical and non-clinical support, and social care. Responses to workforce shortfalls have included a high reliance on foreign and temporary staff, small-scale changes in skill mix, and enhanced recruitment drives. Impending challenges for the UK health and care workforce include growing multimorbidity, an increasing shortfall in the supply of unpaid carers, and the relative decline of the attractiveness of the National Health Service (NHS) as an employer internationally. We argue that to secure a sustainable and fit-for-purpose health and care workforce, integrated workforce approaches need to be developed alongside reforms to education and training that reflect changes in roles and skill mix, as well as the trend towards multidisciplinary working. Enhancing career development opportunities, promoting staff wellbeing, and tackling discrimination in the NHS are all needed to improve recruitment, retention, and morale of staff. An urgent priority is to offer sufficient aftercare and support to staff who have been exposed to high-risk situations and traumatic experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to growing calls to recognise and reward health and care staff, growth in pay must at least keep pace with projected rises in average earnings, which in turn will require linking future NHS funding allocations to rises in pay. Through illustrative projections, we show that, to sustain annual growth in the workforce at approximately 2·4%, increases in NHS expenditure of 4% annually in real terms will be required. Above all, a radical long-term strategic vision is needed to ensure that the future NHS workforce is fit for purpose. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.]

Details

Language :
English
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Anderson, M, O'Neill, C, Clark, J M, Street, A, Woods, M, Johnston-Webber, C, Charlesworth, A, Whyte, M, Foster, M, Majeed, A, Pitchforth, E, Mossialos, E, Asaria, M & McGuire, A 2021, ' Securing a sustainable and fit-for-purpose UK health and care workforce ', The Lancet, pp. 1-20 . https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00231-2
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....b739b4f25504b4422b1e90f1e2e3a986
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00231-2