With paramedics worrying they might be unable to help anyone beyond cardiac arrest patients, how did we get in this mess and how do we solve it?
“You’re starting to see more and more staff slip into poverty,” says Maguire. “I’ve spoken to NHS trusts offering ‘‘ over winter with blankets and advice about heating homes and referrals to food banks, and they’ve found that some of their own nursing staff are asking about how they could access these things.”
Rishi Sunak taking part in the Clap For Our Carers campaign in support of the NHS during the pandemic in 2020, when he was chancellor NHS junior doctor Maguire agrees this has been shortsighted given vacancy levels, and welcomes the Government’s announcement of a review in Jeremy Hunt’s budgetary Autumn Statement last month.
This, Zaranko points out, is despite NHS spending in England being 12 per cent higher in real terms than in 2019/20 – with 13 per cent more doctors and 11 per cent more nurses. The number of NHS ambulance staff and support members has increased by over 40 per cent since 2010. So why do we still have so many vacancies and still face a winter crisis?
Economic strife has hit the system’s finances, too. “When budgets and objectives were set last autumn, inflation was expected to remain much lower, but it has eaten into NHS purchasing power.” Health Secretary Steve Barclay, centre has held discussions with unions over what services will be affected by strikes this month So should we simply ramp up NHS funding? Zaranko urges caution. He points out that despite years of austerity, big subsequent increases during the pandemic mean the Department of Health and Social Care’s spending has in fact increased in real terms by around“Anyone who pretends there is a simple answer to this is lying,” he says.
Ultimately, the economist comes to the same conclusion as the healthcare analyst: so many of the problems facing NHS staff, particularly in winter, are down to inadequate social care that can’t relieve the pressure. There are many hidden factors that can cause unexpected delays, he says, especially while there are workforce shortages in the wider economy. The lack of an engineer to fit a stairlift in an elderly person’s home, for example, could leave them stuck in hospital after a fall.
, even though the Autumn Statement made up to £7.5bn available over the next two years to support adult social care services – the biggest funding increase in the sector’s history, providing the equivalent of 200,000 additional care packages. “However, longer term, it will probably slip back as we’ll start seeing more people move on or retire. We’ll lose people because of the terms and conditions of their work.”
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