The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is experiencing “severe” staff shortages at all its hospitals, with the number of shortages increasing by 50% this fiscal year, according to a new report from the agency’s independent watchdog.
The report, released on Tuesday, came a day after the Guardian revealed the department had lost thousands of healthcare professionals deemed “core” to the system under Donald Trump, without which, the agency said, “mission-critical work cannot be completed”.
The inspector general found 94% of VA facilities faced a “severe” shortage of doctors, while 79% faced a severe shortage of nurses. Psychology was “the most frequently reported clinical occupational staffing shortage”. A majority of VA facilities also reported severe shortages of police officers, who keep veteran patients and staff safe.
The VA operates the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States, serving 9 million veterans annually. The report is required under two laws, one signed by Trump in 2017, which require the agency’s inspector general annually to determine the extent of staffing shortages within each medical center.
In a statement, Congressman Mark Takano of California, the ranking Democrat on the House committee on veterans’ affairs, said the report “confirms our fears” that shortages of medical staff were leading to “decreased access and choice for veterans”.
The VA press secretary, Peter Kasperowicz, told the Guardian the congressionally mandated watchdog report was “not a reliable indicator of staffing shortages” and that it was “completely subjective, not standardized and unreliable”.
The report is based on a survey of VA medical centers in April. Since then, a Guardian review of agency staffing records found, the VA has continued to lose doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and other frontline medical professionals.
Kasperowicz did not dispute the fact that the agency had lost thousands of “mission-critical” healthcare workers under Trump – including after the watchdog’s survey period concluded.
The VA is in the midst of a department-wide reduction of 30,000 workers, which the secretary of veterans affairs, Doug Collins, said could be accomplished by September through a combination of attrition, a hiring freeze and deferred resignation program.
The staff cuts, Collins said, would not affect patient care, but were “centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to veterans”.
In May, the Guardian reported that staff losses at the VA had led to unit closures, reduced hours of operations and exam backlogs across the hospital system.
