Understaffing Within the NHS

Understaffing Within the NHS.

The National Health Service (NHS) was founded to offer the people of the United Kingdom a broad range of healthcare services. Although there are more doctors, nurses, and midwives employed by the NHS, there has also been a sharp rise in the number of patients who have registered. There is an imbalance in the number of patients who want medical assistance and the demand for medical experts in the NHS. This has resulted in understaffing within the NHS. Understaffing is a situation where there won't be adequate staff to perform the work in an organisation. As understaffing is concerned with human resources working in an organisation, it is a challenge that needs to be addressed by Human Resource Professionals to improve the staffing condition within the NHS.

Numerous root issues contribute to the NHS staffing shortage, one of which is Brexit. Brexit appears to be having a bad influence on the NHS's staffing situation, as it has caused many European doctors and medical personnel to depart the UK. Brexit was viewed as a racist ideology by the British public (Milner, Adrienne; Nielsen, Rebecca; Norris, Emma, 2021), characterised as the British population promoting their superiority over other European countries. It was also predicted that after Brexit, unrestricted movement in the UK would be curtailed and that the relatively post-Brexit visa immigration rules would result in fewer people applying for work in the UK.

Employees are more inclined to depart an organization if they believe the reasons for staying are no longer proportional to their contribution (March and Simon). According to the NHS Staff Survey 2021, only 36.7% of staff were satisfied with their compensation, and 16.6% said they would leave the organisation as soon as possible. Inflation is one of the reasons NHS employees are requesting better compensation. There may be a desire to quit if there is an imbalance between salary and greater opportunities to grow one's abilities (Lum et al., 1998; Strachota et al., 2003).

Increasing employee work-life balance is one of the core functions of human resource professionals, and it may be a significant leverage point for promoting individual and organizational effectiveness (Shankar & Bhatnagar,2010). During the pandemic and post-pandemic phases, NHS employees began to leave the organization, citing work-life imbalances caused by a heavy workload, which included long shifts and working beyond contracted hours, making their positions less appealing. Work-life balance, stress, and burnout appeared to have an impact on employee job satisfaction; also, the satisfaction rating of NHS employees has declined for three consecutive years (NHS staff Survey, 2021), increasing the NHS's staffing crisis.

Employees who believe their organization's wage distribution is fair to have high job satisfaction, which influences their loyalty to the organisation and willingness to stay (Chang, Wang and Huang, 2013). Inflation-related salary increases can reduce the impact of the staffing shortage. As a result of the pay review recommendations, the government boosted compensation for eligible doctors by 4.5% and increased basic pay for nurses (Gov of UK, 2022). However, even with the salary increase, NHS medical professionals are still on strike. In these circumstances, the organisation can tackle the problem by providing supplemental benefits and assisting and encouraging employees to save their earnings. SEUZ Payroll auto-saving scheme is a successful award-winning saving initiative that helps the organisation’s employees during a cost-of-living crisis. The scheme is similar to a pension scheme where the financial concerns of the employees are considered in the SUEZ. After implementing the scheme reduction in absence was noticed, and days lost per absence were reduced from 8.54 days in 2019 to 6.2 days in 2022. Employees felt that their financial situation is improving because of this scheme (CIPD, 2023).

Workplace flexibility refers to the ability of employees to choose when, where, and for how long they do work-related duties (Bal and Lange, 2014). Having control and balance over professional and personal tasks indicates that flexible working practises influenced work arrangements, which influenced employees' attitudes towards work (Atkinson and Hall). Employees that work flexible hours are happy with their work-life balance (CIPD, 2016). The CIPD performed a survey concentrating on flexible working, and it was discovered that flexible workers report decreased exposure to excessive pressure at work. Almost 28% of survey respondents said that flexible working is a factor that keeps them with their present employment (CIPD, 2016). As previously stated, lengthy working shifts impacted NHS medical workers during the pandemic and post-pandemic phases. Flexible working can enable the NHS to improve its workforce situation.

During times when skills are scarce and when it takes several weeks to fill a vacancy, that is when the turnover becomes problematic (CIPD,2021). Retaining the current employees is the most immediate step to address the workforce challenges. The retention programme was introduced in 2017 in the NHS. the programme was aimed to run from 2017 to 2020 to stabilize the retention rate. National turnover rates fell from 12.5% to 9.5% after the effort (NHS People Plan). Working for longer is a smaller component of the retention programme that was later adopted at the University Hospital of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust. Several measures were implemented as part of the scheme to aid in the retention of elderly workers. As part of this, the trust conducted an anonymous survey. The trust identified the key points to communicate and promote after reviewing the information received. A variety of bodies were brought in, including occupational health and pensions. As a result of this program, staff turnover fell from 10.32% to 9.36%, while nursing turnover fell from 12.24% to 8.84%.

Healthcare workers play an important role in public health; unlike other business staffing problems, the NHS staffing crisis has an influence on society, particularly during pandemic and post-pandemic period.

References

Sarkar, Jeeta. “Linking Compensation and Turnover: Retrospection and Future Directions.” Linking Compensation and Turnover: Retrospection and Future Directions, Jan. 2018, p. 373.

Supporting staff to work for longer: Case study, workforce supply, staff experience, culture and change, NHS Employers, 2020.

SUEZ Payroll Autosaving: Case study, CIPD, 2023.

Employee Outlook, employees' views on working life, CIPD, 2016 p 7.

Chang, W.-J.A., Wang, Y.-S. and Huang, T.-C. (2013), Work Design–Related Antecedents of Turnover Intention: A Multilevel Approach. Hum. Resour. Manage., 52: 1-26. p 7-15.

Heywood, J. S., & Wei, X. (2006). Performance Pay and Job Satisfaction. Journal of Industrial Relations, 48(4), 523–540.

“NHS Staff to Receive Pay Rise.” GOV.UK, 19 July 2022, www.gov.uk/government/news/nhs-staff-to-receive-pay-rise

“Improving Reward and Retention With the Reward and Recognition Network.” NHS Employers, 31 Oct. 2022, www.nhsemployers.org/articles/improving-reward-and-retention-reward-and-recognition-net work.

Avey, J.B., Luthans, F. and Jensen, S.M. (2009), Psychological capital: A positive resource for combating employee stress and turnover. Hum. Resour. Manage., 48: 677-693. p 685-68