Carol Propper, Professor of Economics at Imperial Business School, took part in a聽Royal Economic聽Society webinar on 28 May
, Professor Propper, President of the Royal Economic Society,聽explored the long-term聽impact of coronavirus聽(COVID-19)聽on health and healthcare in the UK, making the聽case that聽there will be聽greater pressure聽on the government to increase聽its聽spending on the聽health service once the聽coronavirus (COVID-19)聽pandemic is over.听听
One of the reasons for this, on the supply side of the service, will be聽concerns around staff safety throughout the pandemic, as well as pre-existing fears over Brexit, meaning聽both British-based individuals and those from elsewhere in the European Union聽(EU)聽are less likely to want to work for the NHS, she argued.聽
鈥淲e need to remember that the NHS competes in a worldwide聽labour聽market聽in which there is already a global nursing shortage.
"We already had Brexit concerns... and聽I think healthcare workers are going to think twice about coming to Britain when they could work in their own countries," she said, pointing to the UK's聽poor performance during the pandemic compared to small European countries, such as聽the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic.聽
Healthcare workers are going to think twice about coming to Britain when they could work in their own countries
Professor Propper also explored how聽issues on聽the demand side of the health service聽are likely to lead聽to more calls for increased NHS spending, including the backlog of health procedures that has built up during the pandemic, with treatments such as hip replacements being delayed, as well as more serious issues such as cancer patients going undiagnosed.聽
"There has been a drop in A&E visits [during the crisis], including by people who are having strokes or minor heart attacks. There is a stock of ill health. This [delay in treatment] will increase the severity for some patients, including聽cancer聽patients," she said.聽
Another contributing factor to increased demand for spending will be the long-term impact on mental health which, she argued, is also likely to continue rising significantly during the pandemic. You can read more about the toll of economic lockdown on mental and physical health in this article by Professor聽Propper.听听
This is just one of a number of talks Professor Propper has given on the impact of coronavirus, including a debate entitled "Assessing the Impact of COVID-19: From Mortality to Misery?鈥 organised by the London School of Economics, a discussion聽entitled "" organised by cross-party organisation Compassion in Politics and another looking at wellbeing as the world emerges from lockdown.聽
Share
