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A House of Lords’ amendment to the Health and Care Bill, which would have made it a legal requirement for the Secretary of State to publish regular, independently verified assessments of NHS workforce numbers, has been rejected in the House Commons.
The British Medical Association said it was “truly disappointing” that, despite consistent pleas from across the healthcare profession about the precarious state of the NHS workforce, the government has decided to vote down the amendment that would have delivered much-needed greater transparency over workforce numbers.
Last week over 100 health and care organisations behind the #StrengthInNumbers campaign signed a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to accept the Lords’ amendment to the Health and Care Bill that will guarantee independent assessments of how many health and social care staff were needed.
The NHS and social care need more staff
It said the pandemic had reinforced what was long known: the NHS and social care need more staff. The amendment would provide a mechanism for attaining clarity about the number of doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and social care staff needed now and into the future.
The letter added: “Without it, we will continue to fly blind on NHS and social care staffing. Recovery of our health and care services will be fatally undermined without a comprehensive workforce strategy that addresses endemic staff shortages by projecting future demand and supply.”
It went on to highlight the significant challenges facing the country, including an ageing population, more people reliant on long-term care, and long-standing regional and specialty shortages. Without this amendment, the Health and Care Bill will fail to address the biggest challenge facing the NHS and social care system: staffing shortages.
BMA council deputy chair Dr David Wrigley said: “Any decision on service configurations in the NHS should be focused on clinical need and delivering quality patient care, not politics, so it is really disappointing that the Government has chosen not to back the Lords Amendment to remove the Secretary of State’s power to intervene in such decisions.
“With the NHS facing the largest ever backlog of care in its history and with a severe workforce crisis to contend with, we cannot afford to let political, rather than clinical priorities succeed as undue political influence in NHS decision making can undermine the ability to ensure effective long-term planning. Achieving the best outcome for patients must always be the deciding factor.”
The Health Foundation also said that MPs voted the wrong way on this crucial issue and missed an important chance to put in place a more efficient way of planning the health workforce of the future.
Hugh Alderwick, Director of Policy, added: “We now hope that the House of Lords encourages the government to think again on these issues, and that government remains open to compromise before the Bill passed into law.”