A survey from the Royal College of Physicians has shown that the majority of doctors say it will take at least 18 months to get the NHS back on an even keel.
The college’s 10th survey of members found that 59 per cent believe it will take at least a year and a half to get the NHS back on an even keel, although 30 per cent say the huge backlogs in care resulting from the pandemic will take more than two years to clear.
Delays in care are particularly acute within certain specialist areas of medicine such as gastroenterology, in which 75 per cent of doctors think backlogs will take over a year to clear, including almost half who think it will take over 18 months. Other specialties where physicians expect it to take over a year to return to ‘normal’ include dermatology (82 per cent), rehabilitation medicine (67 per cent), respiratory (59 per cent), oncology (58 per cent) and cardiology (52 per cent).
Backlogs are exacerbated by continuing delays for diagnostic testing. Clinical physiology is the worst affected, with 87 per cent of respondents to the survey experiencing delays for outpatient tests and 73 per cent for inpatients. Access to endoscopy testing is also difficult – delays in outpatient tests were reported by 82 per cent of doctors while the figure was 64 per cent for inpatients.
The Royal College of Physicians also reports on staff well-being, with the latest survey finding that 69 per cent feel exhausted and 31 per cent are demoralised. Only 57 per cent of doctors say they are getting enough sleep, while two thirds said there had still been no discussion in their organisation about time off to recuperate.
When asked what impact the pandemic had on teamwork, a third thought it had a negative impact during the first wave. Two fifths thought it then worsened during the second wave.
Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: “Doctors are rightly concerned about the length of time it will take to deal with the enormous backlog of non-COVID care that has built up over the pandemic. We know our patients are waiting for treatment, and in many cases have been waiting for some time already.
“The problem is workforce. Vacancies were high going into the pandemic – we simply don’t have enough doctors to meet demand which is why we need to expand the workforce. We need to double the number of medical school places and establish transparent processes to ensure we are training enough people now to meet future demand.”
