A New York Times analysis<\/a> of internal agency records found that VA had chosen not to hire replacements for approximately 14,400 unfilled vacancies in healthcare positions, a total that includes 1,500 doctors and 4,900 nurses and accounts for five percent of its total medical staff. <\/p>\n A 2025 report by the VA\u2019s own inspector-general meanwhile discovered that more than 90 percent of the department\u2019s facilities were already suffering \u201csevere shortages\u201d of doctors and nearly 80 percent had a severe shortage of nurses.<\/p>\n That comes despite President Donald Trump<\/a> saying<\/a> in a statement in November 2024, as he nominated former Georgia congressman Doug Collins<\/a> to lead the department: \u201cWe must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our active duty servicemembers, veterans, and military families to ensure they have the support they need.\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins speaks during a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, last November (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n Collins himself told the Senate<\/a> during his confirmation hearing in January 2025: \u201cAt the end of the day, the veteran is getting taken care of. VA care is going to happen.\u201d <\/p>\n Responding to the analysis, departmental spokesman Peter Kasperowicz attacked the NYT as as \u201can extreme liberal publication that is incapable of covering the Trump administration fairly,\u201d calling its report a \u201cshoddy hit piece.\u201d<\/p>\n Kasperowicz told The Independent the positions being eliminated were \u201cnot needed,\u201d that the VA was \u201cworking much better under President Trump than it did under President [Joe] Biden,\u201d and that its success should be measured by performance, not staffing numbers.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery position we removed was an unfilled position,\u201d he said. \u201cNo employees lost their job, VA personnel levels will not change, and VA care and benefits won\u2019t be affected at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Kasperowicz also pointed out that the department\u2019s backlog of veterans awaiting benefits was down 63 percent over the last year, that it completed more than 82 million direct care appointments last year, opened 33 new clinics, and spent nearly $5 billion on modernizing existing facilities.<\/p>\n White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said that \u201cpersonnel levels will not change, and VA healthcare facilities will continue to hire for any jobs they need to fill.\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n The department also lost 83,000 jobs last year as the Trump administration sought to slim down the federal government, only for the decision to be scrapped (Getty)<\/p>\n The newspaper\u2019s analysis indicates that roughly 10,500 of the eliminated medical roles, or 73 percent of the total, had been filled at some point in 2025 or 2026, contradicting a claim by Collins that most of the vacancies had lingered unfilled for \u201ca year or more.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to medical provider jobs, the VA\u2019s healthcare division also removed about 11,700 other vacant positions, according to the NYT, including roles for all-important social workers and psychologists and support staff like secretaries, police officers, and custodial workers.<\/p>\n Geddes Scott, a recently retired nurse with the department based in New York City, said that his former place of work was understaffed, with exhausted nurses regularly asked to pull double shifts, risking mistakes on the job.<\/p>\n Psychiatrist Dr. Katie Phelps, who also left the VA last year when the Trump administration began to crack down on remote working, called the loss of medical staff \u201cvery worrisome\u201d and said: \u201cThere was quite a lot of unintended collateral damage. That is the saddest part of all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, the department was among many targeted by Elon Musk<\/a>\u2019s DOGE<\/a> as it sought to slim down the federal bureaucracy, though in July, a decision to cut 83,000 jobs at the VA was scrapped<\/a>, fearing it could spark public outcry. <\/p>\n The department declared the cull was no longer necessary because it turned out to be on track to lose approximately 30,000 staff members by the end of the fiscal year anyway due to \u201cthe federal hiring freeze, deferred resignations, retirements, and normal attrition.\u201d<\/p>\n That nevertheless trimmed the VA\u2019s total size to around 451,000 employees, down from 484,000 when Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to maintain mission-essential jobs like doctors, nurses, and claims processors,\u201d Collins said at the time of the U-turn.<\/p>\n![\"Veterans](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2245677569.jpg\")
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