Minister says he is ‘not sure what more we can do’ for NHS staff as report warns of burnout ‘emergency’

Committee of MPs have called for immediate action to support exhausted workforce

Environment secretary George Eustice (Sky News)

Cabinet minister George Eustice said he was “not sure” what more Boris Johnson’s government could do for NHS staff suffering with burnout from the Covid crisis.

NHS and social care staff burnout has reached an “emergency” level and poses a risk to the future of services, a committee MPs have warned.

In a highly critical report, the Health and Social Care Committee called for immediate action to support exhausted staff who have been pushed to breaking point during the pandemic.

The environment secretary told Sky News: “Yes, of course they’ve had a difficult year – if you’re dealing with a pandemic, as they’ve had to, it’s been a very difficult time, they’ve done extraordinarily well.”

Mr Eustice said the government had already recruited more staff and introduced a pay rise. Pushed on the issue, he responded: “Well, I’m not sure what more we can do.”

The minister added: “There’s been a pay rise and there’s a review looking at that issue again, but we’re also recruiting more staff and if the issue is that they feel under pressure – and it’s entirely understandable having been through this pandemic – one of the things that we’re doing is recruiting more staff.”

Despite Mr Eustice’s claims, the committee’s report but pointed to long-standing, unresolved staffing issues in the NHS before the coronavirus pandemic began.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) told MPs that prior to the onset of the pandemic, there were 50,000 nursing vacancies in the UK.

And the Royal College of Psychiatrists has said a lack of staff is one of the biggest causes of workforce burnout in mental health services.

In the report published on Tuesday, the MPs said: “The emergency that workforce burnout has become will not be solved without a total overhaul of the way the NHS does workforce planning.

“After the pandemic, which revealed so many critical staff shortages, the least we can do for staff is to show there is a long-term solution to those shortages, ultimately the biggest driver of burnout.”

The MPs said that, while issues such as excessive workloads may not be solved overnight, staff should be given the confidence that a long-term solution is in place.

Tory MP Jeremy Hunt, chairman of the committee, said: “Workforce burnout across the NHS and care systems now presents an extraordinarily dangerous risk to the future functioning of both services.”

He added: “It will simply not be possible to address the backlog caused by the pandemic unless these issues are addressed.”

During the pandemic, the NHS Staff Survey found 44 per cent of staff reported feeling unwell as a result of work-related stress in the previous 12 months.

But even before the crisis, the NHS faced shortages of around “one in 10 or one in 12 staff”, the MPs’ report added.

Meanwhile, in adult social care, MPs heard during their inquiry that the situation is “fragile”. Skills For Care estimated that 7.3 per cent of roles in adult social care had been vacant during the financial year 2019-20, equivalent to around 112,000 vacancies at any one time.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of social care membership body Care England, welcomed the findings of the report but stressed the sector needed more than just financial support.

He said: “Money alone is not the answer. We need to ensure that social care is established as a career with the kudos associated with due professionalisation and one way to deliver that would be a ten-year plan for workforce akin to that of the NHS.”

Asked about a report on NHS burnout, Dr Nikki Kanani, director of primary care for the NHS in England, said: “I can’t explain really clearly enough how much people have been working across the whole NHS consistently, constantly for 15-18 months now, it has been exhausting.”