A report on the NHS’ workforce has revealed the concerns of haematology professionals.
The enquiry report, Government commitments made in the area of the health and social care workforce in England, has found “persistent understaffing in the NHS poses a serious risk to staff and patient safety in routine and emergency care”.
MPs on the Health and Social Care Select Committee highlight that the NHS and social care face “the greatest workforce crisis in their history”.
The report included evidence from the British Society for Haematology (BSH) of chronic workforce shortages.
The report references unequal opportunity and investment in training which are causing particular problems for the haematology workforce. The authors also point to concern from the BSH and others over the Health and Care Act 2022 becoming law without provisions for independent workforce planning reviews.
Josh Wright, President of the British Society for Haematology said: “Severe understaffing in haematology services around the country is compromising the health of patients reliant on their care and forms part of an endemic crisis within the NHS.
“At a time when new haematological treatments and the advances of genomic medicine provide hope; while increased life expectancy necessitates prolonged care; we are losing experienced consultants to retirement and facing trainee shortages.
“Despite the Government’s commitments to ensure that the NHS has the health professionals it needs, the haematology workforce has manifestly not grown to support patient needs – in terms of numbers, training or resources. This is a longstanding problem. Workforce issues have been identified in haematology for a long time, including in a rigorous, independent, 2011 analysis of training needs submitted to the Department for Health which called for urgent attention to encourage staff into the specialty and avoid future workforce issues. However, this advice has not been heeded.”
