News / Staffing and funding top election concerns

Funding of health and social care and workforce issues topped the wish lists of NHS pressure groups in the run-up to the election.

The NHS Confederation called for the incoming government to link health spending to GDP (gross domestic product) to ensure spending grows alongside growth in the economy.

Niall Dickson (right), confederation chief
executive, said: ‘Critically, we need a visible and objective measure of funding as we have seen for overseas aid and the armed forces – the next administration needs to commit to a minimum funding level for health and care linked to GDP.
As the economy grows, so should health and care spending.’

He called for an Office for Budget Responsibility-style body for health to assess future funding and workforce needs. 

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said workforce was now the number one priority for the health service. 

Recruitment and retention were becoming more difficult in all types of providers and there was uncertainty over the status of EU staff.

‘Years of pay restraint and stressful working conditions are taking their toll,’ he said. ‘Pay is becoming uncompetitive. Significant numbers of trusts say lower paid staff are leaving to stack shelves in supermarkets rather than carry on working in the NHS. And we are getting consistent reports of retention problems because of working pressures in the health service causing stress and burnout.’