NHS Providers has warned of “unsustainable staffing gaps” as a result of pay restraint, the impact of Brexit and the absence of a robust long-term NHS workforce strategy.

It warns that growing problems of recruitment and retention are making it harder for trusts to ensure patient safety and that lower paid staff are leaving to work in supermarkets rather than carry on working in the NHS.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb commented:

“The Conservatives expect NHS staff to take year after year of real-terms pay cuts in order to try to stave off financial disaster for the health service

“These cuts to pay will only get worse as inflation soars and prices rise, with nurses facing a £4,000 pay cut by 2021.

“You can’t possibly justify this over such a long period. It will mean staff will vote with their feet and leave.

“The Conservatives have set themselves against any tax increase to fund improved investment in the NHS, which would guarantee a bleak future for the NHS and its staff.

“Only the Liberal Democrats have a clear and credible plan to ensure that our NHS and social care system is sustainable.”

Notes

The Liberal Democrats‘ manifesto will set out a ‘five-point recovery plan’ for NHS and social care services. This will include a 1% rise on the basic, higher, additional and dividend rates of income tax in the next financial year raising around £6bn per year, which will be ringfenced to be spent on NHS and care services and public health.

Research by the TUC has found nurses will be £4000 worse off a year by 2021 once inflation is taken into account (link)