UK healthcare professionals (HCPs) believe that Brexit had exacerbated the National Health Service (NHS) staffing crisis, according to a survey by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

In a GlobalData’s survey* titled “Brexit and the Healthcare Industry”, a total of 92% of surveyed physicians believed that Brexit had a negative impact on NHS staff shortages and worsened the workforce crisis. Hospital specialists were more negative towards the impact of Brexit compared to physicians working in primary care.

Urte Jakimaviciute, Senior Director of Market Research at GlobalData, comments: “Hospital specialists work and interact with more teams, such as nurses, ambulance and support staff, and other specialists. As such, they may assess the impact from a different perspective.

“Staff vacancies in NHS have surged in recent years, which can be attributed to a decline in pay in real terms and, and the negative impact of Brexit on attracting and retaining EU-trained healthcare staff. While replacing the EU staff with non-EU staff is among the solutions, it may be associated with visa delays and higher costs.”

The NHS was facing considerable funding issues even before the COVID-19 pandemic, as the funding did not keep pace with demand. While the funding increased in recent years, as it grew to £257.60 billion ($318.40 billion) in 2020 compared to £225.20 billion ($278.36 billion) in 2019, and the total healthcare expenditure in 2021 is estimated at £277 billion ($342.38 billion) – these increases are not sufficient to meet eligible needs.

Jakimaviciute concludes: “Even though the UK government increased healthcare funding to enhance healthcare services’ capacity to deal with COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 related pressures, increasing inflation levels will ultimately mean less funds for the healthcare sector. The government has also started to make some pledges to increase salary levels, but it is unclear whether the salary increases will come from additional allocations or will have to be funded from existing NHS budgets.”

*GlobalData’s survey consisted of 85 healthcare professionals surveyed between January 2023 – March 2023.