According to the CQC, if no action is taken, more health and care workers will leave their jobs, services would be further strained, and the risk of harm to patients will increase.
A workforce equivalent to Newcastle’s population must be hired immediately to alleviate the “gridlocked” health and care system and prevent serious injury to patients, according to the country’s care regulator.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) reports that access to care is becoming “increasingly difficult” due to a severe staffing shortage.
There are approximately 132,000 openings in the NHS and 165,000 in social care, which is roughly the same number as the city’s population in the northeast.
This shortage in the care industry has a significant influence on NHS waiting lists, the availability of hospital beds, and emergency response times.
The CQC characterized the entire health and care system as gridlocked and ineffective.
The CQC echoes the warnings of health officials over the need to address the crisis in social care to alleviate strain on the rest of the health system.
Executive Director Ian Trenholm stated that the recruitment challenge facing health and care leaders “will translate into serious difficulty” this winter and in the coming years.
Mr. Trenholm stated that as a result of the bottleneck, people are unable to see their primary care physician or dentist, must wait longer to reach the hospital, and can become stranded due to a shortage of social services when they are ready to leave.
He stated, “And this is not merely a byproduct of caring.” All of this has economic repercussions as well.
Unwell people are unable to return to work because there is a backlog, or a queue, for care.
Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, stated that there are approximately 10,000 people in hospitals who are medically fit to be discharged but must remain because there is no community care provision for them.
Only two in five patients can leave the hospital when they are ready, according to the Care Quality Commission, which contributes to record-breaking waits in emergency departments following admission decisions and deadly ambulance handover delays.
It was discovered that in some instances, nearly half of a hospital is occupied by patients who are medically fit to be discharged but are awaiting social care help.
There are available beds, but some nursing facilities are not accepting new patients because they cannot supply adequate staffing levels.
In addition, some nursing homes must re-register as care homes since the nursing staff is departing and it is difficult to find replacements.
As of April 30 of this year, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services projected that more than half a million persons (542,002) were waiting for exams, reviews, or care to begin.
Separate data from the labor organization Skills for Care indicate that the number of filled positions declined by almost 50,000 between 2020-21 and 2021-22.
In its annual report on the condition of health and social care in England, the CQC also cautioned that the growing cost of living could lead to an exodus of care workers in search of higher-paying employment.
In May and June, a record number of care workers in the South East resigned due to rising gasoline prices, according to the regulator.
Without action, according to the CQC, more health and care workers will leave their jobs, services will be further strained, and the risk of harm to individuals will increase.
This will be more obvious in places of greater deprivation when access to care outside hospitals is under the most strain.
