IBMS response: Workforce health and social care report
The Workforce: recruitment, training and retention in health and social care report published today by the Health and Social Care Select Committee marks the conclusion of its inquiry, with a Government response due by 25th September 2022.
The Committee’s assessment was that the NHS and the social care sector are facing the greatest workforce crisis in their history. They have proposed 73 recommendations covering areas such as workforce planning, recruitment, retention and working culture.
The report highlights workforce challenges in health and social care being driven by a range of key and existing pressures. The main concern is the need to bolster current recruitment and the talent pipeline for future delivery.
In order to alleviate the workforce crisis in healthcare laboratories, the NHS needs to make rapid progress to train more biomedical scientists and ensure the necessary support is in place for patient care.
The IBMS has consistently publicised how vital it is that our diagnostic services are reinforced and supported with an effective workforce strategy so that our biomedical scientists and laboratory staff can effectively deal with the healthcare backlog, COVID-19 related illness and maintain a pandemic resilient service for the future.
IBMS training routes are the fastest, most effective and financially efficient ways of securing the future healthcare laboratory workforce. A graduate with an IBMS accredited degree can be trained and registered in as little as 6 months – provided there is training officer support.
The UK Government must recognise the biomedical science profession’s great contribution to patientcare by publishing a strategy for the biomedical science workforce which utilises IBMS accredited graduates and IBMS training routes as soon as possible.