Physiotherapists at the Royal London Hospital fighting on pay, February 2023. Photo Workers.
Despite staff shortages newly qualified medical professionals in all disciplines are finding it hard to get jobs. This wasteful situation has a direct impact on patient care.
As newly graduated health professionals celebrate their achievements, their thoughts turn to finding work. There should be no difficulty. Britain is in desperate need of more doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, radiographers and many more health professionals.
Yet many NHS employers have imposed recruitment freezes. Four professional unions – The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Nursing – have raised the issue.
Their joint letter to the health secretary draws attention to the situation, and demands that every health graduate who wants one is offered an NHS contract.
A survey of student midwives by the Royal College of Midwives found that 80 per cent were not confident of finding work on graduation. Yet existing midwives and maternity support workers are working an estimated 118,000 unpaid hours of overtime each week to meet the needs of their patients.
Half the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s workplace reps report recruitment freezes or delays in filling physiotherapy posts. One in ten report that their health trust has completely frozen recruitment of clinical staff. In 2024 physiotherapy graduates were finding it more difficult to find a job than they were two years earlier.
• A longer version of this article is on the web at www.cpbml.org.uk