Column: Our NHS is only as good as the people who work in it.
Very often when someone tells me about their experience of the NHS, they will say how wonderful the people were who looked after them. So I was concerned last week by the announcement that, in order to tackle a £128m gap in its budget, the University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has put a recruitment freeze on non clinical and some senior clinical staff. This means that when someone leaves they won't be replaced.
This might be acceptable as a short term measure if the NHS was fully staffed, but the opposite is true. Last year there were over 120,000 NHS staff vacancies in England alone. When there are vacancies, then the NHS has to use temporary ‘bank’ staff, and the bill for this keeps on going up.
It’s a vicious circle: not enough people means that those who are there are overworked and morale can be low. Some people leave the NHS resulting in more vacancies and more spending on temporary staff. This in turn results in bigger budget gaps and the need for more cuts like the ones announced this week.
We have an ageing population requiring ever more complex healthcare. The social care system is not fit for purpose. Hundreds of people who are medically well enough to go home, can’t leave hospital because there is no care package in place for them. The government must urgently address the challenges that NHS trusts up and down the country are facing. Without this, and without a plan to sort out social care, I am worried that we wont have a healthcare workforce who are equipped to meet the needs of people in Mid Sussex.
On Sunday, I went to the opening of the Community Garden at St Edward’s Church in Burgess Hill. The garden is going to be used by a number of local groups, young and old, and will give many people a chance to enjoy the therapeutic effects of gardening. I, along with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor each planted a plant instead of the more traditional cutting of a ribbon. Congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to bring the community garden to life.