Brexit is compounding workforce problems for the NHS, which is already finding it hard to recruit and retain workers, according to a new NHS Providers report.
The report noted that the 96% reduction in the number of nurses registering from the European Economic Area (EEA) is being made worse by the uncertainty surrounding the rights and status of over 160,000 EEA staff working in the health service.
It also argued that pay restraint and exchange rate shifts have made the UK a less appealing place to work for European nurses since the referendum.
‘Staff shortages are increasing as Brexit uncertainties persist and more staff leave due to seven years of pay restraint and their jobs becoming more pressured, stressful and difficult,’ said the report.
It argued: ‘The NHS needs a realistic long-term workforce strategy that ensures the NHS has the right number of people, with the right skills, in the right place, within the funding available. This needs to include a clear plan to end pay restraint.’
Responding to the report, Janet Davies, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: ‘NHS leaders fear that patients are paying the price as staffing shortages bite. Ministers can no longer dismiss warnings of this kind.
‘When the NHS has never been busier, it is haemorrhaging experienced nurses at a faster rate than it can find new recruits. For as long as we fail to train enough British nurses, we must be able to recruit the best from around Europe.’
The report urged the government to confirm the rights and status of EU staff working in the NHS, as around 10,000 EU nationals quit last year, pilling more pressure on an already stretched workforce.
To make matters worse, the British Medical Association (BMA) has just reported that 1 in 5 European doctors have already made plans to leave the UK, with 45% considering it.
Andrew Dearden, treasurer at the BMA, said: ‘That so many EU doctors are actively planning to leave the UK is a cause for real concern. Many have dedicated years of service to the NHS and medical research in the UK, and without them our health service would not be able to cope.’
The department of Health, however, criticised the findings, saying that they did not ‘stand up to scrutiny’, and that more European doctors have started working in the NHS since the Brexit vote.
The NHS providers report paints a bleak picture for NHS staffing post-Brexit and will invite added attention to the upcoming budget, in which Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has already stated that the NHS pay cap will be lifted.
‘The nursing profession has seen years of poor decisions and excessive cost-cutting - we need investment in nurse education and a new law that makes ministers and others accountable for proper workforce planning and mandated safe staffing levels,’ added Janet Davies.