Is Lack of Investment in the NHS Putting Patients at Risk?
Falling levels of capital investment and workforce shortages are putting the health service under increasing pressure.
Capital spending in the NHS
The Health Foundation recently published an analysis of capital spending on health care in the UK in comparison with similar countries elsewhere in Europe.
The Health Foundation is an independent charity which aims to improve health care in the UK.
Their findings show the UK consistently lagging behind many of its European peers in terms of capital expenditure on health care over the past decade.
Within a health care context, capital spending refers to the amount of money spent on non-personnel costs such as buildings and equipment. This would include low-technology items such as hospital beds as well as high-technology items such as MRI scanners and CT scanners.
Comparing the value of capital spending per health care worker, the report found around a 35% drop in capital spending on health in the UK since 2000 in comparison to an average increase of around 10% in the other countries in the study. These countries included Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal.
Looking only at the value of machinery and equipment, the UK shows a lower value per healthcare worker than any of the other countries in the analysis since 2005.
Staffing issues in the NHS
The UK has increased its workforce in the health service over this same period but unfortunately there remain approximately 100,000 vacancies in the NHS including around 40,000 nursing vacancies.
A previous Health Foundation publication assessing staffing levels in the NHS, released earlier this year, identified a slight growth in full-time equivalent staffing numbers but a rising overall workforce shortage. This is exacerbated by increasing demand.
This unsustainable situation is starkly demonstrated each winter as pressure on Accident and Emergency, combined with a shortage of hospital bed availability, leaves patients waiting for hours before being processed and admitted or sent home. Increasingly, hospitals are experiencing similar levels of demand and pressure at other times of year.
Despite staffing numbers rising in some areas of the health service, the number of GPs is falling and the Health Foundation report identifies little change in recruitment figures despite government plans to increase GP and nursing numbers were announced.
Medical negligence
Despite the excellent quality of care provided by the vast majority of people working in the NHS, the combined scenario of healthcare staff shortages and under-funding of capital items puts patient care at risk.
If you or a loved one are suffering long-term problems due to a significant failure in care by medical professionals, contact Glynns to speak to a specialist medical negligence solicitor.
It might be appropriate to make a claim for compensation.
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