Jeremy Hunt ‘ignored’ NHS staff shortages while health secretary

Jeremy Hunt has been accused of ignoring critical NHS staff shortages for years and driving medics out of the occupation while health secretary after he intervened this weekend to warn of a workforce disaster.

Promoting his new guide, Zero: Eliminating Unnecessary Deaths in a Post-Pandemic NHS, Hunt mentioned tackling the “chronic failure of workforce planning” was an important process in relieving strain on frontline providers. Now the chair of the health and social care committee, he mentioned the state of affairs was “very, very serious”, with docs and nurses “run ragged by the intensity of work”.

But his feedback drew sharp criticism from healthcare staff, who mentioned Hunt – the longest-serving health secretary within the 74-year historical past of the NHS – didn’t take enough motion to spice up recruitment while within the prime job between 2012 and 2018. Instead, critics mentioned, his tenure noticed health employees give up the NHS in droves for jobs overseas or new careers outdoors drugs. There are actually 100,000 vacancies within the NHS, and the ready checklist for remedy has soared to six.4 million.

“There’s an avalanche of pressure bearing down on the NHS. But for years Jeremy Hunt and other ministers ignored the staffing crisis,” mentioned Sara Gorton, the top of health at Unison, the UK’s largest health union. “The pandemic has amplified the consequences of that failure. Experienced employees are leaving at faster rates than new ones can be recruited.”

“Hunt has recently been an articulate analyst of current issues, particularly workforce shortages, but these haven’t come out of the blue,” mentioned Dr Colin Hutchinson, the chair of Doctors for the NHS. “At the time he could have made the greatest impact, his response was muted. We have to ask: was the service people were receiving from the NHS better, or worse, at the end of his time in office? At the time when it most mattered, he was found wanting.”

In an excerpt from his guide, revealed within the Sunday Times, Hunt described sitting on the prime of a “rogue system” while health secretary, and criticised a “blame culture” within the NHS that made it “incredibly difficult for doctors, nurses and midwives to speak openly when things go wrong”.

Dr Jenny Vaughan, the chair of the Doctors’ Association UK, mentioned Hunt was “correct” that the absence of “complete commitment” to transparency and honesty in healthcare “clearly provides the context for avoidable deaths and mistakes”. However, she raised questions over his failure to deal with staffing ranges as health secretary and mentioned she was “pleased” that he now accepted that “this should be an absolute priority”.

She mentioned: “Hunt says that doctors and nurses are exhausted and that the institution is crying out for renewal. Could he not have tried harder to improve what he knew to be seriously low staffing levels when he was in charge and handled the strike of junior doctors in a more compassionate way? His tenure was marked by many of them becoming disillusioned with the health service and leaving for other countries or changing career.”

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Hunt known as for each NHS affected person to have entry to their very own named GP. Responding to his feedback, Prof Martin Marshall, the chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), mentioned there have been “many” benefits to continuity of care, however “intense workload and workforce pressures” made it “increasingly difficult to deliver, particularly when political focus consistently prioritises quick access”.

In 2015, Hunt pledged to rent 5,000 extra GPs inside 5 years – however the whole went down as a substitute of up. In their 2019 manifesto, the Conservatives promised to recruit 6,000 extra GPs by 2024, however Sajid Javid admitted final November that they had been unlikely to hit their goal.

“Ultimately, the long-term solution that is really needed is an increased workforce with more GPs, more members of the practice team, and more time with our patients so that we can offer both good access and continuity of care for patients,” mentioned Marshall. “The government have promised 6,000 more GPs and 26,000 more members of the practice team by 2024, and it’s imperative they pull out all the stops to deliver it.”

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Hunt refused to rule himself out of a future Tory management contest, however mentioned now was not the suitable second. When requested if Boris Johnson was the suitable individual to guide the Conservative social gathering into the following election, Jeremy Hunt mentioned he “hoped” so.

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