How bad is morale in the NHS? Lords to ask unions and BMA
The House of Lords Committee on the Long-Term Sustainability of the NHS will next week take evidence on staffing issues from Unite, Unison and the British Medical Association as well as The Nuffield Trust, the Department of Health and Professor James Buchan of Queen Margaret University
The Committee will explore the pressures on NHS staff, the skills that will be needed in the NHS over the next 20 years and the risk posed by low staff morale in the NHS.
The evidence sessions will start at 10:05am on Tuesday 8 November in Committee 1 in the House of Lords. Giving evidence to the Committee will be:
10:05am
- Candace Imison, Director of Policy, The Nuffield Trust
- Dr Graham Willis, Head of Research and Development Workforce Analysis, Acute Care and Workforce, Department of Health
- Professor James Buchan, Queen Margaret University
11:30am
- Christian McAnea, National Secretary for Health at Unison
- Steve Watkins, Medical Professionals Union Section, Unite
- Mark Porter, Chief Executive at the British Medical Association
The first session will include questions on what changes will be required to the skills mix of NHS staff to meet the twin challenges of an ageing population and drive for greater efficiencies, the challenges other countries face in workforce planning and whether the NHS is likely to have enough clinical staff by 2030.
Questions in the second session will cover the impact of recent pay restraint in the NHS, levels of morale amongst the workforce and whether the Government's ambition to radically change the organisation of how care is delivered can be carried out by the current workforce.
