VA Chief: ‘Tens of thousands’ more staff [View all]

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VA Chief: ‘Tens of thousands’ more staff
By Tom Philpott / Syndicated Columnist
PUBLISHED: Monday, September 22, 2014 at 12:02 am

The Department of Veterans Affairs needs “tens of thousands” more personnel working in VA hospitals and bizO-Philpott_Tom_BizOclinics to meet patient demand, the new VA Secretary, Robert “Bob” McDonald, told lawmakers at a recent hearing of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

The size of the staff shortage, McDonald said, explains why VA has launched “a big recruiting effort” which he kicked off recently with visits to Duke University and University of Pennsylvania medical schools to tell students there why “VA is where they want to work.”

Congress is pressing to clarify VA staff shortage as the department struggles to recover from a patient wait-time scandal, demand for care grows due to a force drawdown, and the nation at large also copes with a shortage of health workers, particularly mental health care capacity.

McDonald got more specific than some senators expected, at one point estimating the VA staff shortage at 28,000 against current staffing of 300,000. McDonald attributed that figure to his deputy, Sloan Gibson, who was acting secretary after retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki resigned in May.