MPs condemn government response to pandemic backlog

The committee’s Clearing the backlog caused by the pandemic report, published in December, suggested the Department of Health and Social Care create an integrated recovery plan that addresses emergency, mental health, primary, community and social care, as well as elective waiting lists.

There should be annual assessments of the workforce needed, and whether sufficient numbers were being trained.

It should also offer ‘a clear vision’ of what constitutes success and what patients should expect their care to look like, the MPs added.

In its response, the Department set out an overview of its elective recovery plan, and pointed to actions it has taken in other areas, including primary, mental and public health. The Department said it would publish an update to the NHS long-term plan, resetting the commitments made ‘where necessary’ and to set out the next steps in delivering against those commitments.

But health committee chair Jeremy Hunt (pictured) said the plans lacked cohesion.

‘We urged the government to produce a central integrated recovery plan as we emerged from the pandemic that went beyond tackling the elective backlog. Vital services that people depend on such as emergency care, mental health, community, and primary care must be included.

‘In rejecting our recommendation, ministers have missed an opportunity to set out a comprehensive plan of the role these services will play in recovery. The government has presented us with a jigsaw of laudable plans and strategies, but has failed to produce the overarching vision that would fit those pieces together.’

It was announced this week that in March elective waiting lists grew to a new record 6.4 million people in England. This included nearly 16,800 people who have waited more than two years, though their numbers fell by around 6,500 between February and March. Under the elective recovery plan, no patient should have waited more than two years by July.

Former health secretary Mr Hunt said the shortfall in the NHS workforce was critical to addressing the backlog. The health committee had recommended that, each year, Health Education England (HEE) publish objective, transparent, independently verified workforce projections for health and social care. These should cover the next five, 10 and 20 years, and assess whether sufficient numbers of staff are being trained.

In its reply, the Department fell short of making such a commitment. HEE had been commissioned to review long-term strategic trends for health staff and regulated social care professionals, it said.

‘This work will look at the key drivers of workforce demand and supply over the longer term and set out how they may impact upon the required shape of the future workforce. This work is nearing its final stages and we anticipate publication of the framework in spring 2022,’ the Department added.

NHS England and NHS Improvement were developing a workforce strategy that built on this work.

Mr Hunt said the government had failed to heed the committee’s recommendation. He continued: ‘Without [annual workforce assessments], it remains impossible to know whether enough doctors, nurses or care staff are being trained.’

He also criticised the Department’s approach to public health, pointing out that the service faces a real terms funding decrease in 2022/23.

‘At a time of crisis, exemplified by NHS doctors being urged to delay retirement, it is incredibly disappointing to again see the lack of clarity in the government’s response to the recommendations we have made,’ he added.

‘I repeat my call to the secretary of state to urge his department to be clear on all of our recommendations and whether they are ultimately accepted or rejected.’