Weekly News
Thousands
of NHS nursing and doctor posts lie vacant
I found this news
story on the BBC News Webpage. It was published by Dominic Hughes and Vanessa
Clarke for the ‘Health’ tag
of the page.
More
than two-thirds of trusts and health boards in the UK are actively trying to
recruit from abroad as they struggle to cope with a shortage of qualified
staff, figures reveal.
Tens of thousands of NHS nursing
and doctor posts are vacant.
The statistics, obtained by the
BBC, show the scale of the NHS recruitment crisis.
Health unions blame poor workforce
planning, but officials say the NHS has more staff than ever before.
Data from a BBC Freedom of
Information request shows that on 1 December 2015, the NHS in England, Wales
and Northern Ireland had more than 23,443 nursing vacancies - equivalent to 9%
of the workforce.
In comparison, the average vacancy rate across the UK
economy from November to January 2016 was 2.7%, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The figures - which include 106
out of 166 trusts and health boards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland -
also revealed:
§
Between 2013 and 2015, there has been a 50% increase
in nursing vacancies, from 12,513 to 18,714.
§
For doctors, the number of vacancies went from 2,907
to 4,669 - an increase of roughly 60%.
§
In England and Wales, there were 1,265 vacancies for
registered nurses in emergency departments - about 11% of the total.
§
For consultants in emergency medicine there were 243
vacancies - again 11% of the total.
§
Paediatric consultants - specialists in the care of
babies, children and young people - were also hard to recruit, with 221
vacancies - about 7% of the total.
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