Revealed: record 170,000 staff leave NHS in England as stress and workload take toll
Health service shown to be under some of worst pressure in its history in week Rishi Sunak launched plan to retain and recruit workforce
Nearly 170,000 workers left their jobs in the NHS in England last year, in a record exodus of staff struggling to cope with some of the worst pressures ever seen in the country’s health system, the Observer can reveal.
More than 41,000 nurses were among those who left their jobs in NHS hospitals and community health services, with the highest leaving rate for at least a decade. The number of staff leaving overall rose by more than a quarter in 2022, compared to 2019.
The figures in NHS workforce statistics of those leaving active service since 2010 analysed by the Observer show the scale of the challenge facing prime minister Rishi Sunak. He launched a new workforce plan on Friday to train and keep more staff.
Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Staff did brilliant work during the pandemic, but there has been no respite. The data on people leaving is worrying and we need to see it reversed. “We need to focus on staff wellbeing and continued professional development, showing the employers really do care about their frontline teams.”
Hartley said he welcomed the workforce plan, particularly the expansion of apprenticeship routes for clinical staff and the ambition to train more staff and reduce reliance on international recruitment and agency workers.
In the year to 31 December 2022, 169,512 staff left NHS service in hospitals, community health services and other core health organisations, compared to 149,678 the previous year. The figures are for all staff, including doctors, nurses, ambulance staff, managers, support workers and technical staff.
Experts believe 2022 may be a peak year for NHS departures because of those who may have deferred retirement because of the pandemic, but there has also been a surge in employees citing work-life balance as the reasons for quitting.