Shifting from Undersupply to Oversupply: Does NHS Workforce Planning Need a Paradigm Shift?

Abstract

The National Health Service in England is currently halfway through the most austere decade in its history. Finding ways to improve health care efficiency is crucial to ensure the sustainability of the health system. While evidence of supply-induced demand (SID) has often been used as an economic argument to restrict labour supply, in the UK the risks of SID may be much less than in health care systems with more deregulated entry into the market post-qualification and with fee-for-service payment systems. This article focuses on the problem of staff shortages in nursing. We argue that, although an oversupply of some types of labour can add to cost pressures by increasing demand for health care services and that the cost of training staff is high, undersupply and poor labour planning lead to unintended consequences such as poor labour productivity. As a result there is a case for public policy to target an oversupply of nurses in the future. If government reforms to nurse funding help, they are to be welcomed.JEL codes: Ill, I18, J24, J45.

NHS workforce projections 2022

“…This report highlights the risks posed by growing NHS workforce shortages to the ability of the NHS to deliver pre-pandemic standards of care, calling for policy action and regular, longer term workforce planning. While there is relatively little evidence on how workforce undersupply affects health service delivery, 10 one recent study points to a direct link between registered nurse vacancy rates and patient safety in hospitals. 11 Workforce planning is also inextricably linked with NHS funding choices and pressures.…”

Refugees’ narratives of career barriers and professional identity

“…This adds to the often repeated challenge to governments and professional associations to ease and speed processes for recognition and integration of skilled overseas professionals. Countries like the UK have a shortage of skills in medicine (Charlesworth and Lafond, 2017) and education (Education Policy Unit, 2018) that could be mitigated by more flexible and efficient accreditation processes (Stewart, 2007). Furthermore, it highlights the difficulty even well-educated professionals face in finding career information.…”

Reflections on rent-seeking in Ireland and its bus industry

“…Nurses comprise 38 per cent of the health service staff. Charlesworth (2017) found that nurses in Ireland were the thirdhighest paid in the OECD after those in the US and Luxembourg, and were paid 38 per cent more than the OECD 29-country average.…”