MPs slate NHS staff planning as disastrous

22 Mar 07
MPs have described the NHS's workforce planning as a 'disastrous failure' after discovering that it exceeded the planned number of nurses by 340% between 1999 and 2004.

23 March 2007

MPs have described the NHS's workforce planning as a 'disastrous failure' after discovering that it exceeded the planned number of nurses by 340% between 1999 and 2004.

The Commons' health committee's report Workplace planning, published on March 22, follows the Department of Health's revelation that over-achieving on staffing plans might have contributed to last year's reported NHS deficit of £547m.

The committee found that between 1999 and 2004 the NHS overshot the target for GPs by 105%, for nurses by 340% and allied health professionals by 69%. The target for consultants was narrowly missed by 3%.

'It was all too easy to throw new staff into the task of meeting targets rather than consider the most cost-effective way of doing the job,' the MPs state. 'Large pay increases were granted without adequate steps being taken to ensure increases in productivity in return.'

The effect was overspending, say the MPs. 'Boom turned to bust. Posts were frozen, there were some, albeit not many, redundancies but, most worryingly, many newly qualified staff were unable to find jobs and the training budget was cut.'

This 'disastrous failure' was fuelled in part by a lack of specialist knowledge in workforce planning within the NHS, exacerbated by the closure of the NHS Modernisation Agency in 2005 and the reduction in the number of strategic health authorities from 28 to 10 in 2006.

'We heard serious doubts about whether the new SHAs have either the will or the skill to undertake effective workforce planning,' the MPs say. 'There is now far less capacity for workforce planning at regional level than [previously] envisaged.'

PFmar2007

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top