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Record numbers of Nurses leaving NHS

ended 30. September 2022

Record numbers of nurses are quitting the NHS in England, according to a new analysis. More than 40,000 have left the health service in the past year – one in nine of the workforce, data examined by the Nuffield Trust for the BBC has shown. If you've got any thoughts, add them here ASAP. This story is breaking.

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Sam Alsop-Hall
Chief Strategy Officer at Clive Henry Group
Nursing vacancy rates continue to rise and it’s a ticking time bomb that the Government urgently needs to get a grip on. More nurses than ever before are taking advantage of their early retirement benefit and leaving the service at 55, more are letting their pin lapse in favour of non-clinical work and many are looking to utilise their skills in other industries such as the digital health sector. The net result is a record number of nurses that need replacing with no visible pipeline to do it. It’s an extremely worrying trend.
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Helen Llewellyn
Director at Infinity Wellbeing
When people are treated like machines, it's no surprise that they quit. Nurses choose a speciality yet are expected to take responsibility for a ward in a very different field. No back up. No support. Do it or lose your job. Nurses are caring people, but even they can take only so much pressure before they leave to protect their own wellbeing.
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Liam Molesworth
Chief Executive Officer at Mprove
The nurses of the NHS have one of the hardest jobs our country has to offer, yet after a pandemic where the government rightfully labelled them as heroes, they are still underpaid, undervalued and they are starting to realise it. The number of nurses leaving the NHS year on year is now outweighing the number of nurses qualifying, so not only do we need to look after our current workforce to ensure they stay, we need to attract post-graduate nurses to meet demand. The average living age is going up, which means the need for healthcare is increasing. The government needs to put more funding towards the retention of staff, recruitment of staff and use of innovative technology to ensure that the demand for care is still met.
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Karen Watkins
Founder at Rowan Consulting
The sad fact is that unless we start to address the route cause of the problem, these numbers will only continue to increase. Individuals join the profession for very distinct reasons; newsflash, increased pay and benefits will not address the long term issue, unless we start to focus on and address the intrinsic motivators; ie “why” individuals join the industry the numbers will only seek to increase. This is why we are seeing experienced nurses leaving the profession, to do something meaningful. Step away from focusing on extrinsic motivators, that are 1 sided and only benefit the employer and focus on “why” individuals join the nursing and care profession. Then we can start to find a potential solution.
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Mark Robinson
Managing Director at Albion Forest Mortgages
A lot of our clients at NHS Mortgages are Nurses, and we have seen some drop in them working under the NHS. With more and more heading private. This isn't a new thing, and has been going on for years. The benefits for Nurses privately under an agency outweigh those of the NHS, yes the NHS still end up paying the bill! I love the NHS, but wish they would make sure their funds go to the right places.