Don’t be fooled by the NHS’s “lack of staff” lies

Monday-Tuesday blog

NHS England’s ‘understaffing’

At the weekend, I wrote a blog using the latest Office for National Statistics numbers to show that NHS staffing in the NHS England had hugely increased between 2013 and 2023, in spite of just a 7% increase in England’s population over the 10 years and a very small increase in the average age of the population:

• The number of doctors increased by 37,467 (+37%) from 101,137 in 2013 to 138,604 by 2023
• The number of nurses/midwives increased by 68,063 (+23%) from 295,163 in 2013 to 363,226 in 2023
• The number of scientific staff increased by 42,938 (+13%) from 123,912 in 2013 to 166,850 in 2023
• The number of support staff increased by 125,510 (+45%)� from 279,579 in 2013 to 405,089 in 2023
• The number of infrastructure staff increased by 62,758 (+41%) from 152,437 in 2013 to 215,195 in 2023
• The number of ambulance staff increased by just 1,721 (+10%) from 17,537 in 2013 to 19,258 in 2023

I have now crunched the numbers for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Here they are:

NHS Scotland’s ‘understaffing’

(left-click on chart, then left-click again to see more clearly)

• The number of doctors increased by 3,601 (+30%) from 12,181 in 2013 to 15,782 by 2023
• The number of nurses/midwives increased by 7,901 (+14%) from 57,369 in 2013 to 363,226 in 2023
• The number of allied health professionals increased by 2,344 (+21%) from 11,042 in 2013 to 13,386 in 2023
• The number of science and therapeutic services staff increased by 4,257 (+47%)� from 9,008 in 2013 to 13,266 in 2023
• The number of support staff increased by 834 (+20%)� from 4,246 in 2013 to 5,080 in 2023
• The number of administrative staff increased by 4,985 (+13%) from 38,381 in 2013 to 43,266 in 2023

Yet during these 10 years, the population of Scotland served by the NHS only rose by 2.7%

NHS Wales’ ‘understaffing’

(left-click on chart, then left-click again to see more clearly)

• The number of doctors increased by 2,020 (+33%) from 6,083 in 2013 to 8,103 by 2023
• The number of nurses/midwives increased by 6,596 (+21%) from 31,366 in 2013 to 37,962 in 2023
• The number of scientific staff increased by 5,011 (+43%) from 11,616 in 2013 to 16,627 in 2023
• The number of administrative staff increased by 8,597 (+56%)� from 15,238 in 2013 to 23,835 in 2023
• The number of ambulance staff increased by 1,,100 (+57%) from 1,918 in 2013 to 3,018 in 2023

Yet during these 10 years, the population of Wales served by the NHS only rose by 2.0%

Northern Ireland’s ‘understaffing’

I have also done the numbers for NHS Northern Ireland and these show a similar pattern – increases in NHS Northern Ireland staff of between 20% and 30% in almost all areas:

Yet during these 10 years, the population of Northern Ireland served by the NHS only rose by 4%

Overall, the number of NHS staff in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland increased by over 20% while the population rose by only about 2.7%.

As for our ‘ageing population’. Yes, it’s true that the average age of the population is increasing very gradually. But today’s older people are much healthier than previous generations, particularly as smoking has almost disappeared, and older people lead much more active and healthier lives.

So the NHS’s constant claims that it needs more and more and more and more and more and more money and staff to cope with a rising and ageing population is a load of complete nonsense. The NHS has more than enough money and more than sufficient staff. But the NHS is so badly-organised and so incompetently-managed that it wastes much of the vast sums we pour into it.

Time to scrap the NHS and sell it off to a company which knows how to run things?