NHS survey: still a workforce in crisis

5.12.41pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 24th Mar 2004

The Government should not be so quick to pat itself on the back, Liberal Democrats said today in response to the NHS Workforce Survey published this morning.

Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, said:

"The Government should not be so quick to pat itself on the back when there is still so much to be done. There is still a workforce crisis and the Government's claims mask real problems in key areas of the NHS.

"Tackling midwife shortages must be a top priority but Labour has ditched their targets. Ministers must explain why it is they always drop their targets if they are going to miss them.

"It is good news for patients that nurse recruitment is on track. But in a global market for nursing staff, the UK's sticking plaster solution of dependence on overseas nurses, at the expense of long term planning for the UK, makes us vulnerable to the multi million pound recruitment drive from the USA.

"This Government is too obsessed with hospitals at the expense of local health services. Ministers may now be tackling the crisis on our wards but community services are losing out. Numbers of community nurses have actually dropped and there is still a long way to go before we ease the GP shortage. This is crazy logic. People do not want to have to go into hospital if they don't need to. Services must be provided closer to home."