Staff shortages are now a national crisis

[Confusedofbritain]

Staff shortages across many sectors is now a national crisis surely? I’ve given up expecting anything of this government, but why isn’t Labour beating them with a stick over this?

Some examples which affect me personally….

• Can’t go on holiday due to cancelled flight, cause by lack of ground staff.
• I work for NHS trust and we have closed a ward due to c 50% vacancies. We have plenty of money but can’t spend it. Now competing with other trusts paying increasingly high golden handshakes.
• Tried to book restaurant for Tuesday birthday. Not possible as all places shut Monday and Tuesday due to short staff (esp chefs).
• Poor service when we do go out. Staff look frazzled.
• Can’t get a builder to do an extension. Often not bothering to quote. Builder friend can’t keep labourers and brickies. Paying increasingly high wages but getting poached.
• Window fitter quoted me 2x higher than 2019 (for a much smaller window!) probably because they’re so busy and can’t increase capacity due to lack of staff. So prices have gone up by 100%.
• Long delay in discharge for father from hospital, due to long waits for care package (caused by staff shortages). He was in hospital a lot longer than necessary and declined hugely as result.

It’s largely caused by Brexit, partly people retiring or changing livelihood during Covid…:.but why wasn’t this anticipated and what are we doing about it?

I want to see posters EVERYWHERE encouraging people to consider NHS careers. It’s a rewarding career, but impossible to cope and keep going with so few staff. We are escalating to NHS England constantly, saying we need a national solution. It’s beyond critical, but I’m not confident that there is a national drive to sort this out.

The economic and social consequences of ignoring this massive structural issue will be disastrous!

The NHS is not sustainable and no party of any colour has been able to keep the costs under control. We have seventy million people living here and an ageing society - the situation is only going to get worse.

If the government explained this is part of the plan to move to a high wage economy

What does this actually mean, really? What is the economics behind it, because Google returns words like 'snake oil' 'good politics dreadful economics*

High wages translates into high prices.

Why not RTWFT wallpoppy You are looking foolish.

The Swiss model mrsrobinson

Seeing posts blaming the unemployed and foreigners is beyond depressing. The propaganda clearly works on some people

I know a hairdresser, a roofer, a painter/decorator and a bus driver, all of whom are on benefits as a lifestyle choice - I begrudge them every penny of their benefits as there is no reason for them to not work other than sheer laziness. No, the numbers won't match exactly, but there are plenty of people who are choosing not to work.

Oh sorry did I miss your post where you admitted you made up this story about your imaginary polish cleaner and where you also admitted to being very very dim and very very deluded? And where you apologised for your other 342 hateful posts blaming an economic crisis on those who are both least responsible for causing it and least able to fix it, instead of the people and circumstances actually at fault?

really sorry if so but the advice to put down your phone and go outside still stands, you’re coming across a little unhinged and fresh air will do you good x

Not sure how much you can blame Brexit. EU nationals already working here had ample opportunity to apply to stay (as is the case in many other countries). Covid is surely much more to blame as employers got rid of staff when they thought that they, rather than the taxpayer would have to start paying their wages.

@Swayingpalmtrees I am polish so I feel I can debunk this with a fair bit more knowledge than you probably have.
The child benefit thing is no longer allowed and hasn't been for years. If that's happening, she's committing fraud.
There is absolutely NO WAY i believe someone from Poland will come here for medical care. Your example is very very rare. Almost everyone in the community I've grown up in travel there to get medical care. Their NHS is far far better funded.
They have a booming medical tourism business because of this. They send people with long term illness to wellness spas dotted around the country lol.
The current polish government is extremely conservative and has thrown lots of money into providing benefits for families to encourage an increase in birth rate. Whole communities of polish people are returning for better healthcare, education, housing, benefits and work opportunities. They have a special discount on everything for families with 3+ kids. Free summer camps, tourism vouchers, the list is endless. They suffered massively with the trade skill drain and they pay just as well as here for tradesman. Your example if true, is very very rare.
It is by no means a perfect country and its absolutely scary what they are doing in some areas, but it is nothing like what you are describing.

The surge in animal ownership certainly doesn't help, but that's not the root of the problem. We are down to a quarter of the vets we had in 2019, despite spending the last two years trying to recruit. And it's the same across the South East and other parts of the country where the majority of vets used to come from EU countries.

If the problem were just more animals then we would have the same number of vets as before, but would still be unable to cope with demand.

I have to have radiotherapy in a different NHS zone, staying at a hotel for 3 weeks plus all expenses, because there are no specialist radiotherapists in my area. They have been trying to recruit for over 9 months with zero applications.

@Swayingpalmtrees just to add, maybe, possibly, if someone has lived here for 15 years and is likely a British citizen or a permanent resident, they may want to return and continue to receive treatment in a preferred setting. It seems very weird for you to have such a negative attitude towards this but still allow this person to stay/leave their kid with you.

@Swayingpalmtrees

" Working can be GOOD for poor mental health, it can give direction, purpose and hope to someone's life. It certainly kept me going in peak lockdown. ‘

Teaching fucked with my mental health so badly l got ill health retirement. Some working is good but not horribly stressful jobs. Yet l was a good teacher and was driven out by the stress and shot that go with the job.

I thought that one of the problems with vets was that most British ones preferred to work dealing with domestic dogs and cats and their owners, not the literally shitty and bloody job of working in abattoirs.

I just want to quote this so it appears twice - so people will realise (if they haven't already) that @Swayingpalmtrees is blatantly lying to back up hateful and incorrect ideas about the causes of, and solutions for, staff shortages.

I can answer why window prices have gone up, there is a higher demand, material shortages pushing prices up, shortage of staff so wages go up, insurance costs up, fuel costs up it all has a knock on affect. On top of this we have staff being abused by customers because wait times are longer, for surveys, for quotes, for installation and repairs none of which is our fault and we are doing our very best to manage the delays against the demand. Imagine the same strains on every industry and it all.becomes self explanatory. Would you go to work and be sworn at, shouted at for a low wage and poor contract? When now there are so many vacancies people can pick and choose where they work.

It’s a complication of many things, there seems to be a massive job change going on at the moment, 350,000 + people worked in test and trace, which limited staff levels,Covid has given the people the kick to do different things, many over 50’s have retired (300,000+) hospitality workers took better paid jobs with more social hours, HGV drivers got out of the profession due to long hours and rubbish conditions, care workers much the same and the sack for having no jabs, there is a massive gig economy for people, Amazon flex, Deliveroo, etc, couriers, As well, there is a rush to do things and go places after the last two years of Covid, employers didn’t recruit fast enough or are unable to get staff to return, it’s going to be a long time till we return to proper staffing levels, unfortunately it might take the coming recession to achieve it,

There is a huge shortage across all areas of the profession, particularly in London and the South East. If you've got a sick dog or cat you'll be lucky to get an appointment within a month. Most practices in London are taking no new clients. Our clinic, which used to offer a low cost out of hours emergency service is now unable to do so, and for the first time in 20 odd years we have no out of hours service. Some practices have had to close completely due to having no vets!

@sarahbash you need to start your own thread

my favourite of the "we should train our own!" comments I've seen recently is on doctors - yes, that won't take long, will it?

It was promised a couple of years ago that numbers of GPs would increase but it's no surprise they have not delivered.
Several reasons for this, including;
Capacity for training needs to be massively increased - so many bright youngsters can't get into medical school because numbers are strictly limited.
One reason for this is the cost of training doctors is far more than the tuition fees and is heavily subsidised. The governement need to put more money into training.
It takes five years to train doctors and after that there is no obligation for them to work in the NHS. Some of my DCs cohort have gone into (very lucrative) med tech instead of the NHS.
Existing GPs retiring early or going part time have meant numbers actually fell.

Probably not well known but social workers are instrumental in supporting quick and safe discharges. Without us it slows everything up. We're on our knees and there's so little being done when a lot of our work exists to ease the pressures on other services.

Management still have the idea that thousands of other people can fo your role and do exactly what they are told short term maybe long term no

I cannot work weekends there is no maybe on this I cannot work weekends and when there is no childcare avaliable so I apply for jobs within these hours only to be told I'm expected to work weekends and evenings....but I cannot do those hours that's why I applied for this job no I won't just suck it up no I can't just "find someone" my kid has special needs he is the definition of hard work no-one wants to do me a regular favour so just working the hours advertised please nope we will find someone else this job has been advertised a further four times since I said no I wonder why 🙄