During the Covid pandemic, and to a lesser extent, a Winter health crisis, the NHS is faced with 2 major problems. Increase in patients, and the decrease in staff resources, mainly due to sickness absentees. This can be alleviated to some extent, by using military personel, trained volunteers, and retired staff. However, this does not always produce results quicky enough? Military personel may have duties elsewhere, including out of the country, and it has become clear, by the reports in the press, that volunteers and retired NHS Staff are having to “jump through hoops”, in order to satisfy the increasing layers of red tape deemed necessary to permit their return to the duties they have carried out perfectly satisfactorily, in some case for the whole of their working lives? This is leaving volunteers and retired staff frustrated, disillusioned, feeling undervalued, and acting as a deterrent to others to volunteer? If all branches of the military can function well with Reservists working alongside regular personnel, why can’t we run a similar system for volunteer staff for the NHS?
Military Reservists receive at least 35-40 days training per year, and require little or no training before they can be deployed. I would suggest that retired NHS Staff and volunteers would not need anywhere near that amount of training – since most would be trained in the role they are volunteering for, but a week’s refresher course per year, where they can be updated, and update, or complete the mountain of red tape perceived to be needed for them to return to service in a time of national crisis, would ensure they could be deployed in days rather than weeks.
So how would a UK National Medical Reserve work?
It would not need any fancy buildings or infrastructure – just a local office staffed with one or two administrators with a good organisational skills, and a fair knowledge of medical recruitment needs. It needs to be funded by, and responsible to the Department of Health, completely separate from any and all levels of local bureaucracy, including the local health board, to be able to remain independent of adverse pressures? Ex NHS and volunteers from all levels would be encouraged to sign up, when they leave the service. In return, as well as the satisfaction of helping the country and local hospitals in times of need, they would be paid a yearly tax free retainer, plus wages at the going rate for the weeks training update, and for any service periods. The admin staff would keep a record of all volunteers and their qualifications, to ensure that their training is kept up to date, and they are in possession of each and all forms and certificates necessary? This service could cover every requirement of the NHS, from Porters to Surgeons, Ambulance Drivers, Paramedics? Everywhere where there is a need for extra staff to help keep the Health Service functioning, with the proviso, of course, that no one is used for a job he is not qualified for? You wouldn’t want a porter standing in for a doctor, or a retired GP working as a porter, which would be a mis-use of resources? There would need to be checks and balances to prevent the local Health Boards from abusing the system, by using Medical Reserve staff to cover general staff shortages caused by recruitment issues rather than national pandemics, and local/national emergencies? The National Medical Reserve volunteers could also be called on to provide assistance during disasters and accidents, by virtue of their ability to be deployed within hours, as their training and documentation will be kept up to date by the local administrators???
The Government need to provide adequate resources to fund an NHS Medical Reserve Office centrally, and to provide funds ring fenced directly to this office to run the Reserve in all 4 countries that make up the UK. This money should be used directly and not passed to local administrations to set up the local offices. The Government should also ensure that there is ministerial responsibility for the efficient running and funding of the service, and also lines of communication between front line hospitals urgently requesting help from volunteers are not bogged down in a sea of red tape!! Hospitals should be able to call the local Reserve Office for help, and this is provided, after reference to the central office rather than bogged down by being passed from hospitals to health boards to devolved health departments and devolved administrations………!! Costs would be minimal, other than when the reservists were deployed? No large buildings to hold transport and equipment, and no large numbers of admin staff. Computerised records and efficiency are the key to keeping costs down…..!
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