To ease the staffing crisis in many hospitals, which has left them severely under-staffed, the NHS plans to create an army of tens or thousands of reservists.
Today, Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, announced the new scheme. He said that both clinicians and non-clinical employees were required to perform a variety of tasks such as supporting Covid jab rollouts and assisting with delivery and IT.
This Army-style force is to be uniformed and trained, with a contract in place for a specific number of days per year. The payment will be made to recruits.
It builds on the success of the pilot scheme where eight NHS trusts — including some in London and Birmingham — recruited a reserve workforce to ease crises sparked by employees being off work.
Ministers hope the force — modelled on the Army — will bolster the health service against winter pressures, industrial action, major disasters and terror attacks.
Hospitals are already battling against major staffing shortages, with 110,000 — or one in ten employees — currently off sick including 50,000 with Covid. One in four employees could be absent, according to trusts.
Senior NHS officials warned that the country is approaching a crisis point and could risk operations being stopped as soon as next week if Covid admissions rise further.
Twelve consecutive days of Covid cases exceeding 100,000 have now been recorded in the UK. Yesterday’s numbers were up 15% from the previous week. Over-65s now have more cases than ever.
With 1,915 hospital admissions reported on December 27, which is the latest data available, that’s up 63% on last week, it also indicates an increase in hospitalisations. Current numbers of Covid patients are at 11.918, which is the highest number since March.
Sajid Javid, Health Secretary, said that the scheme was open to both clinical and non-clinical personnel. The scheme was implemented by 110,000 NHS staff, with 50,000 of them being sick due to Covid
Official figures reveal that only one out of forty NHS staff was unable to work due to Covid in December. Official figures indicate that the Covid-related deaths increased by twofold in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but only a fraction of the hospital staff have been unable to work because of the virus. (File image)
The Telegraph quoted Mr Javid as saying: “Throughout the pandemic we worked with NHS to increase capacity and make sure we have the right people in the right places.
‘We’ve seen thousands of former NHS staff step up and offer their support, with around 17,000 reservists signed up. You have really made an impact, particularly in our national mission of Get Boosted Now.
The NHS Reserve Programme offers a new and exciting way to tap into experience and skills in order to support our talented staff. It will expand rapidly over the next year. Look out for ways to get involved. And, thanks to all who have stepped in to support patients and the country.
Under the Covid voluntary scheme, more than 47,000 retired health professionals including doctors and nurses offered assistance to the NHS in the midst of the pandemic.
A third of the so-called returning volunteers expressed interest in long-term volunteering.
The reserves scheme was created by ministers in order to capitlize on that interest.
The reservist force — modelled on that used by the Army — will bolster the health service through winter crises, industrial action, major disasters and terror attacks.
All 42 integrated systems will have groups, each one led by a local area.
The pilot was launched in November 2020 and 17,000 people participated. The pilot was launched in November 2020 and the recruits were stationed in London, Surrey, Devon Cornwall, Norfolk Staffordshire, Birmingham, Nottinghamshire.
Last month, the group was mobilized to help with the intensified booster programme.
For all workers in the NHS, 110,000 was the number of NHS staff who were off on New Year’s Eve. The NHS dashboard showed by December 31 86,716 were off with illness at acute trusts — a leap of 27 per cent.
There were 49,921 who had to be away from their homes for coronavirus-related reasons. That’s an increase of 62% within five days. This included 19,143 nurses, midwives, and 2,120 physicians.
This was a huge leap on Boxing Day, when just one in 40 NHS hospital staff were unavailable to work because of Covid.
Last week, Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical Director, spoke of the NHS on a “war footing”, a term that has been repeated many times by broadcasters.
Five hospital trusts reported overall sickness or self-isolation absences exceeding ten per cent on Boxing Day – Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (12.2 per cent), Nottingham University Hospitals (12 per cent), Wirral University Teaching Hospitals (10.9 per cent), Warrington and Halton Hospitals (10.8 per cent) and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (10.1 per cent).
They all had Covid-related absents that were higher than the average.
Taking Covid-related absences alone, three had rates of over five per cent on Boxing Day – Homerton University Hospital in London (7.1 per cent), Royal United Hospitals Bath (6.9 per cent) and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (6.7 per cent).
Nine reported Covid-related absentees less than 1% of their workforce December 26.
Comparing to levels before the pandemic, New Years Eve figures showed an increase of five percentage points, while December 2019 had 4.69% staff absent in total.
Chris Hopson is the Chief Executive Officer of NHS Providers. He warned of more restrictions that may soon be necessary to stop patients from ending up in hospitals.
He stated that if more people flood in, there will already be ‘flat out” staff who are being asked to perform ‘flexible heroics again.
Twitter post by him: “NHS under new, perhaps more pressure than last Jan. Busier emergency and urgent care pathways.
There are many more care plans that can’t be delayed. This could cause patient harm. Booster vaccine campaigns significantly more difficult/resource-intensive.
“Staff absences have a greater impact on many trusts. Much greater pressure on social & primary care.
“All making a big difference. NHS – community, mental health, ambulances and hospitals alike – and social care beyond full stretch. Each day is a difficult day for staff.
He added: “If growth rates increase again (e.g. Xmas effect), trusts will likely have to begin putting up additional surge capacity by next week.
‘Putting pressure upon less urgent elective action. Trusts will make every effort to continue with high priority and urgent elective activity.
He said that the NHS had not been able grow its capacity to keep up with growing demands. The gap was closed by asking staff members to work longer hours, which made it difficult for them to give the patient care they need. And the successive Governments have failed to fix growing problems with social care.
They are major contributing factors to our current problems, and they must all be addressed long-term. However, there is a second issue: the NHS faces an urgent emergency that it should prepare for.
He stated that Choice could lead to patients being left untreated, or creating temporary extra capacity.
The dramatic change in his comments is shocking. Before the new year, he stated there wasn’t need to take any additional lockdown measures against Omicron as severe cases remain stable.
Data showed that 160,000 Covid cases in England were breached yesterday for the second consecutive day. This was despite ministers continuing to ignore new restrictions.