Committee Chair has criticised the Government’s
rejection of a recommendation for a broad national health and
care recovery plan to tackle the backlog caused by the pandemic.
MPs made the recommendation for a comprehensive plan to include
emergency care, mental health, primary care, community care and
social care in their report on clearing the
backlog, published in December. The Government published its
response yesterday
evening.
The Committee has also flagged the rejection once again of its
call for the publication of an annual independent assessment of
workforce numbers. Without it, it will remain impossible to know
whether enough doctors, nurses or care staff are being trained,
say MPs.
Health and Social Care Committee Chair Rt Hon MP said:
“We urged the Government to produce a central
integrated recovery plan as we emerged from the pandemic that
went beyond tackling the elective backlog. Vital services that
people depend on such as emergency care, mental
health, community
and primary care must be included. In rejecting our
recommendation Ministers have missed an opportunity to set out a
comprehensive plan of the role these services will play in
recovery. The Government has presented
us with a jigsaw of laudable plans and strategies, but has failed
to produce the overarching vision that would fit those pieces
together.
“With millions of patients waiting for elective
surgery, addressing the workforce crisis is
critical.Yet once again
the Government has failed to heed our call
to publish independent annual reports to project how many staff
will be needed. Without it, it remains
impossible to know whether enough doctors, nurses or care staff
are being trained.
“Public health services are dependent on funding at a
level to match their crucial work – instead they face a real
terms decrease. The Government points to increased funding to
local authorities but the impact of inflation will mean a cut and
a struggle to deliver what is needed.
“On social care, we called on the Government to
bolster its commitment to reform services with a long overdue
ten-year plan. Instead, we’re asked to accept a ‘reform vision’.
The absence of social care in this week’s Queen’s Speech speaks
volumes.
“At a time of crisis, exemplified by NHS doctors
being urged to delay retirement, it is incredibly disappointing
to again see the lack of clarity in the Government’s response to
the recommendations we have made. I repeat my call to the
Secretary of State to urge his Department to be clear on all of
our recommendations and whether they are
ultimately accepted or
rejected.”
ENDS
Key recommendations made by MPs in report on clearing
the backlog:
-
Department of Health and Social Care urged to work
with NHS England to produce a broader national health and care
recovery plan by April 2022, that goes beyond the elective
backlog to emergency care, mental health, primary care,
community care and social care.
-
Plan must take account of the risk that a reliance
on numerical targets alone will deprioritise key services and
risk patient safety.
-
National health and care recovery plan must set out
a clear vision for what ‘success’ in tackling the backlog will
look like, and what patients can expect their care to look like
in their local area in the coming years.
-
Repeats Committee’s previous recommendation for
publication of
independently audited annual reports on workforce
projections that cover the next five, ten and twenty years,
including an assessment of whether enough staff are being
trained.
Note to editors:
Link to Government’s Response to
the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee Report on
Clearing the Backlog Caused by the Pandemic.
The Chair has previously criticised a Government Response to
an earlier report in which almost half the recommendations were
still being considered, urging Secretary of State to ensure that it was clear
whether the DHSC was accepting or rejecting the Committee’s
recommendations.
