Corona Virus Treatment

Number of nurses in the United Kingdom 2021 | Statista



I suspect the high in 2020 was artificial caused by retirees returning to help in the early stages of the pandemic. 2021 numbers are very worrying

 

Pen sales must have soared also.

 

PS - that graph is nurses as far as I know, not other staff such as HCA's etc.

From my own experience, some hospital staff (doctors/consultants in particular) seemed to work in a very inefficient way. For example, in a ward of a morning, they would go around in a gang of four or six doctors and discuss each patient at the foot of the patients bed, going from one to the next in turn. If they split up and took one each, they would be done in a quarter of the time, even allowing for time to discuss any cases they felt they needed to.

 

The graphs can also be interpreted in a positive way, they show that medical practices and efficiencies have improved so patients are discharged much quicker. Think back to the time when mums were kept in beds after childbirth for 2 weeks, it was found that maternal death rates increased from causes like blood clots due to inactivity.

 

Ordinarily I would agree with you, but have to ask the question then why the NHS every single winter, without exception, squeal that they are struggling/over capacity?

 

Well I think they have taken the bed reduction too far. It seems other countries have also reduced their bed counts significantly over the last couple of decades, but the UK has over stepped so it can't cope with peak demand.