Labour analysis reveals NHS staff working 1 million hours of unpaid overtime every week under the Tories

Friday, 15 November 2019 22:30

On Thursday official NHS data revealed the worst A&E crisis in history and 4.4m patients waiting longer than the 18 week limit for treatment, and a new Labour Party analysis released today of official NHS staff survey data reveals NHS staff are working a staggering one million hours of unpaid overtime each week, to help the NHS cope with its chronic understaffing. This analysis raises fresh fears of burnout after the Tories this week attacked Labour’s plan to...Request free trial

This analysis raises fresh fears of burnout after the Tories this week attacked Labour’s plan to provide extra support to the NHS and its staff.

The most recent NHS Staff Survey shows nearly 270,000 NHS staff said they worked extra hours for free every week – at an average of 2.3 hours a week. Two thirds of NHS staff said their organisation hasn’t enough staff for them to do their job properly.

Doctors and dentists between them worked 125,000 hours a week (average 3.6), allied health professionals such as occupational therapists and physiotherapists worked 210,000 (average 2.2), and nurses worked 380,000 (average 3.0)

There are currently record vacancies in the NHS and this week Labour unveiled its NHS Rescue Plan which pledged a £26bn real terms increase, in a package which includes the recruitment of 24,000 extra nurses and expanding GP training places to 5000 to create 27 million more appointments with family doctors.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour's Shadow Health Secretary, said:

“The NHS is in crisis after nearly a decade of Tory cuts and it’s a disgrace that it’s dedicated staff, who always put their patients first, are having to pick up the pieces to fill the gaps left by this crisis made in Downing Street.

“Boris Johnson’s Tories have let the NHS, its staff and our country badly down by intentionally slashing funding for staff training and scrapping the nursing bursary.

“Labour’s NHS Rescue Plan will restore the nursing bursary and recruit thousands of doctors and nurses that the NHS clearly needs to end the Tory crisis. You can’t trust the Tories with our NHS and we can’t have another five years of this.”

Ends

Notes to editors

The NHS Staff Survey was completed by 460,000 of the NHS’s million strong workforce meaning the true total of unpaid overtime could be even higher.
Source for unpaid overtime figures: NHS staff survey Latest Results (2018) > detailed spreadsheets > health_sheet4 > columns K to O
Working assumes staff who said they worked 0-5 hours unpaid worked an average of 2.5 hours; staff who said they worked 6-10 hours unpaid worked an average of 7.5 hours; staff who said they worked an average of 11+ hours unpaid worked 11 hours.
Staff group totals include some non-trust staff eg community interest companies or clinical commissioning groups

	National NHS Staff Survey 2018
	c) On average, how many additional UNPAID hours do you work per week for this organisation, over and above your contracted hours?
	Base (number of respondents)	Number working up to 5 unpaid hours per week	Number working 6 to 10 unpaid hours per week	Number working 11+ unpaid hours per week	TOTAL UNPAID HOURS WORKED PER WEEK	AVERAGE NUMBER OF UNPAID HOURS PER WEEK
	n
ALL TRUSTS	462,968	205,667	44,969	17,563	1,044,629	2.3
BREAKDOWN BY STAFF GROUP: ALL ORGANISATIONS	--
Allied Health Professionals, Healthcare Scientists and Scientific & Technical staff	95,099	46,556	8,044	3,136	211,212	2.2
Ambulance staff (operational)	16,831	6,191	1,086	1,078	35,478	2.1
Medical / Dental staff	34,418	17,430	6,364	3,039	124,729	3.6
Registered Nurses and Midwives	125,398	65,326	17,250	7,973	380,389	3.0
Nursing or Healthcare Assistants	32,003	10,042	970	714	40,229	1.3
Social care staff	2,356	969	234	61	4,841	2.1
Public Health / Health Improvement	1,701	554	125	59	2,973	1.7
Commissioning managers / support staff	3,710	1,502	535	140	9,305	2.5
Wider Healthcare Team	109,940	41,654	9,644	3,284	212,593	1.9
General managers	12,740	4,991	3,563	2,317	64,679	5.1

Labour’s NHS Rescue Plan includes:

Investing £1 billion in restoring a training bursary for nurses and Continuing Professional Development to help recruit 24,000 extra nurses as well as extra midwives and allied health professionals
Expanding GP training places to 5000 to create 27 million more appointments with family doctor.
Investing in mental health support for NHS staff.
Increasing the total Department of Health and Social Care budget to £178bn in 2023-24 – an average annual increase of 4.3%
Increasing the NHS England resource budget to £154.9 billion in 2023-24 to restore constitutional standards on waiting times and access, including ensuring 92 per cent of patients are treated within 18 weeks, improve A&E performance and radically improve cancer survival rates.
Guaranteeing a greater priority for mental health and wellbeing than ever before with an extra £1.6 billion NHS spending per year to fund counselling services for schools, community mental health hubs for young people, invest in community services for severe mental illness and ensure high quality liaison and 24/7 crisis care for people living with poor mental health
Free prescriptions and car parking, the costs of which are not included in these figures
Increase NHS capital budgets by £15 billion over a Parliament to rebuild NHS hospitals and community facilities and clear the maintenance backlog, funded from Labour’s Social Transformation Fund