To overcome the existing manpower crisis in its health services, Britain has introduced a plan to produce manpower including doctors and nurses within the country. The UK government has introduced plans including doubling the number of seats in medicine at universities and sending students to hospitals after completing four years instead of five.
The government estimates that this plan will add 60,000 doctors, 170,000 nurses and 71,000 health workers to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) by 2037. The British government has said that 2.4 billion pounds will be spent over 5 years to implement the plan.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that this action plan is “historic”. Some critics have said that the plan is aimed at the general election to be held in the UK next year. The NHS is expected to face an estimated 360,000 workforce shortage by 2037. Around 100,000 NHS posts are said to be vacant, putting current staff under enormous pressure and affecting patient services.
Doctors and nurses have gone on strike several times this year, demanding an increase in salary and benefits. But the issue of increasing the salary of the staff is not mentioned in the plan. According to the BBC, almost half of the NHS vacancies are now being filled from abroad. The NHS, founded by the Labor Party in 1948, is about to celebrate its 70th anniversary.
Since free health care is available in the UK, citizens of any status do not die without treatment. Britain’s healthcare, innovative treatment systems and patient recovery outcomes are among the best in the world. However, patients may have to wait months for surgery. The number of patients waiting for NHS treatment has set a record. About 7.4 million patients waited more than 18 months to get treatment, according to a statistic.
British James Paget University Hospital consultant surgeon Dr. Kamal Aryal says that there is a lot of ‘backlock’ due to the covid epidemic, strike of junior doctors, nurses and lack of significant manpower. Others operate on cancer patients.
British James Paget University Hospital consultant surgeon Dr. Kamal Aryal says that there is a lot of ‘backlock’ due to the covid epidemic, strike of junior doctors, nurses and lack of significant manpower. Others operate on cancer patients.