NHS lacks 50,000 doctors,Nurses and other Staff says Report

The NHS is facing its worst financial crisis as it struggles to meet the needs of its ageing population and pay for skyrocketing expensive treatments.

Three-quarters of hospital trusts are currently in the red and they are expected to record a combined deficit of £2 billion in 2016.

Lord Carter, a businessman who had chaired several Government reviews was commissioned in June 2014 to look at hospital waste.A report written by Labour peer Lord Carter, who spent 18 months comparing how a sample of 32 hospital trusts are run.

His main findings revealed the following:

• Patients having hip and knee operations at some hospitals are eight times more likely to develop infections than at others.
• More than two-thirds of space in some hospitals is taken up by offices, store rooms and labs – not wards treating patients.
• Some trusts are ten times more expensive to run than others.
• NHS staff take an average of two-and-a-half weeks off sick each year.

But one of his main concerns is that hospitals waste valuable time and money caring for patients who shouldn't be there in thé first place.

The figures for bed-blocking are currently amongst the worst on record. In the last recorded month a total of 153,000 days were lost due to patients not being discharged because they cannot be looked after in the community.

Labour MPs and health experts blame Government spending cuts, which means councils have less money to pay for elderly care at home.

The new report said hospitals must ensure that offices, labs and store rooms take up no more than 30% of their space.

It also warned that deep wound infection rates following hip and knee replacements varied from 0.5 per cent at the best trusts to 4 per cent at the worst which means patients are eight times more likely to develop infections at some hospitals.

The report estimated that 6,000 patients would avoid becoming infected if the worst trusts improved care.

 The  figures from the National Audit Office estimate that 6 per cent of clinical posts are vacant at hospital trusts and other NHS organisations.

This is equivalent to almost 50,000 doctors, nurses and other staff, including physiotherapists and radiographers.

Labour MP Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: 'Demand for healthcare is increasing but the numbers of clinical staff in England is not keeping pace.

'More than one in twenty of clinical posts are unfilled, putting services and patient care at risk.

'Alarmingly these posts are budgeted for, so the money is there to pay staff – but still they are unfilled.

'This means additional pressure on budgets as hospitals often then need to use expensive agency staff, adding to the cost pressures they face.'

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