Dr. Kath Halliday, president of the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), has published a new blog on the college's website addressing workforce issues and challenges facing the U.K.
Dr. Katherine Halliday.Halliday wrote that the medical workforce is "in a much worse position" after the COVID-19 pandemic and that National Health Service (NHS) waiting times are at a record level. She cited a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) that estimated a worldwide shortage of 10 million health workers by 2030.
Halliday outlined three key ways healthcare organizations can navigate through these challenging times:
- Training: While clinics can tempt doctors from abroad, Halliday wrote that radiology leaders should look after the workforce better, with a greater focus on wellbeing and reducing burnout.
- International doctors: when there's a high demand for international doctors in growing the medical workforce, it means "every country needs to work hard to attract the best healthcare workers," according to Halliday. She added that this also means maintaining standards across the world and providing a good quality of life to attract doctors. Halliday also wrote that imaging leaders should address the shortage of women in leadership roles.
- Primary care: Halliday wrote that the number of general practitioners has declined in recent years, which isn't keeping pace with the number of patients who are presenting with "increasingly more complex diseases" and going back and forth to hospitals for treatment.
