Staff shortages are here now. Operations are cancelled because if it. It's not a conspiracy!
If you don't know doctors and nurses who can tell you first hand how bad things are getting, then this website will help get you up to speed.
I mention immigration because that is the only short term solution - it takes a decade to train nurses and doctors, but we need them now. So, we need to import them. But, we have sent the message to the world that they are not welcome. When they do arrive, we use them as scapegoats when things fail in a poorly funded system.
"Shortages of staff are widespread within the NHS and exist across all disciplines. The NHS is on the brink with too few nurses, midwives, GPs, hospital doctors and mental health workers. Staff are leaving the service due to low job satisfaction whilst recruitment and retention continues to be a growing problem."
- Overall shortage of nearly 100,000 staff.
- Over 35,000 full-time nursing posts vacant.
- 15.3% of GP positions are currently empty.
- 1 in 22 doctor or dentist jobs are going unfilled for more than 6 months in Scotland."
"28% of EU nurses have quit since the result of the Brexit referendum and overseas applications have halved"
"Cuts to nursing bursaries has also led to 33% drop in university applicants."
https://nhsfunding.info/symptoms/10-effects-of-underfunding/staff-shortages/
The question was about how to save the NHS. The solution seems pretty simple considering the data that has been gathered - invest more and encourage overseas workers (from
anywhere).
And as for the idea of propping it up with private care - the private system is nowhere big enough to help at the moment. Unless the government grows some balls and fixes the problem, it is all of us that will suffer.
