(London) Retiring this summer, Debs Helps could benefit from a well-deserved rest after a busy nursing career. But she put her blouse back on, like thousands of other retirees from the British public health service, the NHS, which is seriously short of caregivers.
For around ten hours a week, Debs Helps, 55, voluntarily returns to service in the former Plymouth medical practice where she worked, and also continues training activities within the NHS.
“I didn’t feel quite ready to stop because I like my work (at the firm) and doing training,” she explains to AFP.
After years of austerity and the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health system, beloved by the British, is on its last legs, with impressive waiting lists for treatment and a dire shortage of nurses and staff. doctors to manage the influx of patients.
Added to this is the cost of living crisis which led nurses to carry out a historic strike last year to demand salary increases.
To get back on track, the government, which has made reducing waiting lists one of its priorities, launched this summer a vast plan aimed at recruiting and retaining caregivers, while the NHS currently has 112,000 vacant positions, a figure which would reach 360,000 in 2037 if nothing is done.
PHOTO FRANK AUGSTEIN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The government of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made reducing waiting lists one of its priorities.
It plans to recruit 300,000 professionals within 15 years and is particularly trying to convince more young retirees to come back to work, a few hours or days per month, in order to provide care.
To do this, it recently relaxed the rules allowing retirement pensions and supplementary income to be combined.
According to NHS figures, 4,600 of the 10,300 nurses who retired between July 2021 and June 2022 returned to work within twelve months of their departure, an increase of 4% year-on-year.
Of all the caregivers concerned, 37% of them did the same.
“This system really consists of asking our caregivers who are retiring […] how they would like to work, what they would like to do and see how we can reconcile that with the needs of the NHS,” Navina Evans, head of staffing and training at NHS England, told AFP.
Flexibility
Thus, Debs Helps works on the basis of a completely flexible contract, without any long-term commitment.
“I work when I want. For example I can work Thursdays […] and I can take three weeks off for Christmas,” she says.
“There is such a shortage of nurses, especially qualified nurses, that (the practice) is very happy that I can work with this great flexibility,” she adds.
As part of its long-term plan, the NHS ultimately hopes to encourage up to 130,000 staff to work longer over the next 15 years.
Since 1er October, caregivers can have more flexibility, go on “partial retirement”, while a pilot program allows retired doctors to conduct consultations remotely, by registering on a dedicated platform.
“We looked at all potential options to ensure that we will have the right workforce to meet the needs of the population now, in 5 years, 10 years and 50 years,” explains Navina Evans.
The main nursing union, the Royal College of Nursing, welcomed these measures, while recalling the dire need to finance recruitment in hospitals.
Because the public health system, which costs 190 billion pounds per year (221 billion euros) and employs 1.2 million people in England alone, has long been underfunded.
And experts say the crisis has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit, with many caregivers previously coming from the EU.
“The most effective way to attract people to the profession is to pay them well and demonstrate that there are opportunities for career progression,” said RCN general secretary Pat Cullen.
Debs Helps plans to continue working for several years, also to “pass on her experience” to younger generations.