06.05.15
No surprise that NHS lags behind Europe on staffing and bed levels – BMA
The fact the UK lags behind other wealthy countries on both NHS staffing levels service and the number of beds available to patients will come as “no surprise” to those working on the frontline, the British Medical Association (BMA) says.
Responding to research from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EUI) into how the resourcing of the NHS compares with other countries in the OECD, the BMA’s council chair Dr Mark Porter added that the study highlights the “stark reality of the pressures facing the NHS”.
The EUI’s report concluded that compared with other wealthy countries, the UK does not spend much on healthcare and, in terms of equipment and staffing, it shows.
In terms of spending in 2012, the last year for which World Health Organization
(WHO) data are available for most countries, it ranked the UK 19th out of 166 for healthcare spending per head in US dollars. Spending was less than one-half that of the three biggest spenders: the US, Norway and Switzerland.
The study also highlighted that while staffing is the biggest single cost for the NHS, the UK had just 2.8 doctors and 8.2 nurses per 10,000 population in 2012, compared with OECD averages of 3.2 and 8.9. This puts the country in 21st and 16th place respectively out of 32 countries.
Although staffing levels are not as high in the UK compared to other wealthy nations, measures are being put in place to increase them. It was noted that for hospitals, agency staff, while expensive, do offer flexibility in responding to demand. “Even so, it may be cheaper in the long term to invest in permanent staff”.
While the NHS didn’t fare well on staffing levels, the situation was even worse when it came to physical resources such as hospital beds and medical equipment, where the UK ranks near the bottom of the OECD league. For example, the UK has just 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 population against an OECD average of 4.8.
Porter said: “The EUI’s warning about the levels of staffing across the NHS comes as the BMA’s latest research shows that in the last year just over a quarter of doctors have considered leaving the profession1, while a third of GPs are considering retiring from general practice in the next five years. This is at a time when politicians from all parties are trying to outbid each other on the number of new GPs they can magically produce in the next Parliament.
“What is positive is the EIU’s finding that the gap between the care received by patients in the UK on low incomes and those on higher incomes is smaller than most other OECD countries.”
The study suggested that questions of efficiency will become increasingly important as the UK population ages and the costs of dealing with more complex cases grow.
It recommended that to solve the growing problems in A&E, for example, there needs to be better access to out-of-hours care elsewhere. Nevertheless, asking GPs to take on extra responsibilities fits poorly with efforts to restrain their wages.
The report’s author, Ana Nicholls, said: “Although recruitment has already picked up, it is clear that NHS resources are very stretched compared with those in other OECD countries.
“A tight budget will make it hard for politicians to fulfil their promises of extra funding, but resourcing will only become a bigger issue as the population ages.”
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