The National Health Service (NHS) is facing an unprecedented staffing crisis, with financial losses exceeding 28 billion euros in the period 2012-2023.
According to the latest report from the GIMBE Foundation, presented during a hearing at the XII Social Affairs Commission of the Chamber of Deputiesover half of this figure has been accumulated in the last four years, underlining the very serious situation facing the healthcare system.
The health workforce crisis puts pressure on the system
As highlighted by the President of the GIMBE Foundation, Nino Caltabellotta, the health personnel crisis derives from errors of programming, decades of defunding and recent dynamics that have eroded trust and the motivation of those who work in the sector.
“Without an adequate relaunch of policies for healthcare personnel – declared Caltabellotta – the offer of hospital and local healthcare services will be increasingly inadequate with respect to health needs of people, making it impossible to guarantee the right to health protection”.
The roots of the crisis
Among the main causes of the crisis emerge:
- insufficient and short-sighted planning in the recruitment and training of new healthcare personnel;
- cuts to the health budget who, over the last 11 years, have deprived the system of fundamental resources to guarantee the stability and efficiency of the staff;
- lack of career prospectscombined with difficult working conditions, has led many professionals to leave the NHS or move into private sectors and abroad.
The paradox of increasing health spending
The GIMBE Foundation’s analysis focused on a particularly significant phenomenon: the dramatic increase in spending on so-called “token operators” – healthcare professionals recruited temporarily to make up for staff shortages. In 2023, this expenditure item has doubledfurther worsening the budgets of the Regions, especially those already in the recovery plan, where the average expenditure for employees is paradoxically higher than in the other Regions.
This data reflects a inefficient and unbalanced management of human resourceswhich penalizes the public system in favor of temporary and expensive solutions. The consequence is a vicious circle that fuels the precariousness of healthcare work and reduces the attractiveness of the NHS for professionals.
The analysis and monitoring of the management of healthcare spending at a regional level has demonstrated, in fact, that the consequences of an inefficient management of financial resources in the healthcare field has paradoxically led to the formation of significant deficits and a poor quality of health services guaranteed to citizens, despite ever-increasing public spending.
Proposals for the relaunch
To address the crisis, the GIMBE Foundation has put forward a series of proposals, based on the data from the Report “Health Expenditure Monitoring” of the State General Accounting Office and the Ministry of Health. Among the urgent measures suggested:
- increase in investments in personnel not only to guarantee adequate salaries, but also to encourage continuous training and improve working conditions;
- reduction of dependence on “token dealers” through a structured long-term hiring plan, aimed at stabilizing healthcare personnel;
- health planning reform with planning that is more attentive to territorial and demographic needs, capable of preventing regional imbalances and inefficiencies.
