By Richard Johnstone | 24 July 2013
NHS foundation trusts plan to recruit around 10,000 more clinical staff in 2013/14 following missed targets for accident and emergency treatment, an analysis of hospital’s annual plans by regulator Monitor has revealed.
However, the watchdog added that the number of staff employed in foundation hospitals was predicted to fall by around 30,000 posts by the end of 2015/16.
The annual examination of business plans at 145 foundation trusts found they forecast hiring 1,134 additional permanent consultants, 1,273 junior doctors and 4,133 nurses and midwives in 2013/14. They will also be increasing the numbers of health care assistants, ambulance paramedics, social care and theatre staff.
The £500m recruitment drive comes after the NHS missed its four-hour waiting-time target in the first three months of this year, which Monitor said was ‘unprecedented’.
The investment is also intended to boost staffing levels following the failures of care highlighted by the Francis and Keogh reports into hospital performance.
But the 2013/14 annual plan review stated there was likely to be a reduction in the number of staff in future years. An examination of proposed hospital headcount to the end of 2015/16 found there was a ‘forecast 4% reduction in whole time equivalents in the outer years of the plan’. This fall, which would translate to around 30,000 jobs, will be ‘driven almost entirely’ by hospitals’ cost improvement plans, which form part of the efficiency programme in the NHS.
Such a reduction would be ‘challenging’, Monitor said, noting that the number of whole time equivalent posts in the NHS had continued to rise despite long-term plans to reduce them.
Stephen Hay, the regulator’s managing director of provider regulation, said that in the short term, the sector’s balance sheet was in reasonably good shape.
‘However, the outlook on overall funding is uncertain and the spending review has confirmed that financial pressures will increase beyond 2015/16,’ he added.
The sector has a good track record of forecasting its performance in the first year of its annual plans, but some projections for future years ‘appear optimistic’, he warned.
‘In view of this risk, Monitor will enhance its scrutiny of high-risk areas to enable us to take early action if necessary.’
