07/01/2022
Health and Social Care Committee Chair Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP said: “The NHS faces an unquantifiable challenge in tackling a backlog of cases caused by the pandemic, with 5.8 million patients waiting for planned care and estimates that the figure could double by 2025.
“However, our Report finds that the government’s recovery plans risk being thrown off course by an entirely predictable staffing crisis. The current wave of Omicron is exacerbating the problem, but we already had a serious staffing crisis, with a burnt-out workforce, 93,000 NHS vacancies and no sign of any plan to address this.”
MPs are calling for a broader national health and care recovery plan by April 2022, that as well as fixing the NHS backlog, also encompasses emergency care, mental health, primary care, community care and social care, saying ‘without the right support for social care, a recovery plan for the NHS i...