The economics of the UK health and social care labour market : how labour economics can inform policy toward the frontline care workforce /
Three million workers delivered health and social care in the UK in 2019, accounting for a tenth of the workforce. These frontline workers were the nurses, doctors, adult care workers, and allied health professions that worked in our hospitals, GP practices and care homes. Spending on this workforce...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford :
Oxford University Press,
[2024]
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | Three million workers delivered health and social care in the UK in 2019, accounting for a tenth of the workforce. These frontline workers were the nurses, doctors, adult care workers, and allied health professions that worked in our hospitals, GP practices and care homes. Spending on this workforce is the largest single item of cost on health and social care, with fifty percent of the current spend of a typical UK hospital going on its frontline workforce. 'The Economics of the UK Health and Social Care Labour Market' details the size, occupational composition, geographical coverage, and growth of this workforce. In 2019, three million workers delivered health and social care in the UK; they accounted for one in every ten workers. These frontline workers delivered the spectrum of care we receive 'from the cradle to the grave'; they are the occupations we encounter in hospitals, community health care, residential, and domiciliary care settings. Fifty per cent of the current spend of a typical UK hospital goes on its frontline workforce, and yet policy toward this workforce bears little evidence of being based on sound research. This book details the size, occupational composition, geographical spread, and growth of this workforce. It identifies the reasons people work in frontline care and what drives the demand for these workers. It explains how the UK labour market is part of a global market and details the heavy dependence of the UK on foreign trained workers. It explains how the labour market for frontline workers operates, how these workers' pay is set, what has happened to their pay in recent years, and why there are such acute shortages of some of the key frontline occupations. It employs economic theory to analyse this labour market and presents the analytic framework required to construct coherent policy. Finally, it offers a number of proposals for policy to improve the efficiency with which this market operates and to address current problems. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource : illustrations. |
| Audience: | Specialized. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780191991578 0191991570 |