'NHS Jobs Crisis Must Be Tackled' says John Leech MP

11.56.24am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 8th Aug 2006

John Leech, Lib Dem MP for Manchester Withington, has called on the Government to take urgent action over a growing jobs crisis among NHS physiotherapists.

There has been an increase in the numbers of places for trainee physiotherapists in recent years. However, most of the vacancies for NHS physiotherapy jobs are for senior, experienced physiotherapists. This means that physiotherapists qualify successfully and then find that they cannot find work within the NHS. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy has

stated that many have subsequently taken up alternative jobs outside the NHS or out of health care altogether.

In answer to a parliamentary question from John Leech the Health Minister admitted that the government did not even know how many new physiotherapist job vacancies there were in the NHS!

Now John Leech has written to the Secretary of State for Health demanding that action is taken to rectify the crisis.

John Leech said: "I have been contacted by constituents who have spent years studying

to qualify as physiotherapists and who now cannot find work in the NHS. Physiotherapists fulfil a vital and valuable role in the treatment and rehabilitation of many of the NHS's patients; this is why so many caring people want to train for this career and why the number of training places has been increased.

"However, there has been a total lack of planning by the Department of Health. The DoH is paying to train people to become physiotherapists but is failing to ensure that there are job vacancies for them to fill. I am stunned that the government do not even know how many vacancies exist! This is a criminal waste of public money and is deeply unfair to those who

undergo the demanding training programme.

"The Government has also allowed similar problems to build up for junior doctors and nurses. They must act quickly before the situation gets even worse."

ENDS