- 03 October 2022
- 2 min read
New Report Reveals 40,000 Nurses Left The NHS Last Year
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"We know the size of the problem. We also know the cost. But what isn’t entirely clear is why so many Nurses are leaving."In this article we look at just how many Nurses are still leaving the NHS and ask frontline staff to come forward and help us understand why?
An analysis by the Nuffield Trust think tank for the BBC has revealed that more than 40,000 Nurses left the NHS last year.
That equates to one in nine of the entire workforce.
These record numbers have all but cancelled out the rise in joiners – a boost that had briefly raised optimism about the future of NHS nursing recruitment.
The report raises fresh questions about the ability of the NHS to improve retention.
‘Highly Skilled With Years More Work To Give’
The think tank has revealed that many of the leavers weren’t necessarily retiring, and were skilled and experienced Nurses with more years to give to the NHS.
The report can’t identify the reasons for why so many Nurses have left with any precision, but it’s widely agreed that pay and increasing levels of stress have become pivotal.
Research from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) earlier this year suggested stress and a diminishing work-life balance were key reasons for Nurses leaving the NHS.
A survey by the NMC also revealed that just 43% of Nurses who’d left the nursing register had done so to retire.
The Rising Cost Of Failing To Retain NHS Nurses
The damage of failing to retain NHS Nurses is complex and vast.
Through our own research, we discovered that it costs, on average, £12,000 to replace a fully trained Nurse.
Or to look at it differently, some have estimated that the cost of not addressing retention in the NHS will be more than £20 billion in total.
NHS staff retention rates are dropping, and it has been estimated that the cost of not addressing this issue will be £21.7 billionThen there are all the other effects. The de-motivating impact on staff, the resulting need for agency workers, and the overall damage to organisational performance.
You can find out more about the true cost of failing to retain NHS staff in our detailed report.
About this contributor
Nurses.co.uk Founder
I launched Nurses.co.uk (and subsequently Socialcare.co.uk, Healthjobs.co.uk and Healthcarejobs.ie) in 2008. 500 applications are made every day via our jobs boards, helping to connect hiring organisations recruiting for clinical, medical, care and support roles with specialist jobseekers. Our articles, often created by our own audience, shine a light on the career pathways in healthcare, and give a platform to ideas and opinions around their work and jobs.
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Log In Subscribe to commentBobbie Knighton
Bobbie Knighton
2 years agoThe answer to this question is very simple as an insider - it’s too much. Nurses are exhausted. They are ... read more
The answer to this question is very simple as an insider - it’s too much. Nurses are exhausted. They are fed up of dealing with the same things day in day out. Not able to provide good quality nursing care and no work life balance. Compassion fatigue and burnout is rife. There are no ‘perks’ to working in the NHS. Things that hold people loyal to jobs I.e. childcare/benefits/private healthcare etc. We can’t even park at work without being penalised. We realise that we signed up to this profession but the reality of it makes us constantly question our moral compass; is it really worth it? The pay is laughable for the amount of responsibility and skill we hold and it’s devaluing. The general population no longer see healthcare as a privilege; they see it as a right and therefore the value of it has been lost along with the value of us. The NHS is ran by the goodwill & guilt of the nicest of people at the bottom on the front line. We don’t all want to leave but to live our own life and to take care of ourselves we feel we we have no choice. To save the NHS and the workforce, the system needs to change.
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Thanks Bobbie. Yes, the reasons are, I guess, very well known to us all. We've built services that try to help. And we're delivering them, a little. But there's no money in the NHS to pay for them. We... read more
Thanks Bobbie. Yes, the reasons are, I guess, very well known to us all. We've built services that try to help. And we're delivering them, a little. But there's no money in the NHS to pay for them. We'd love to do it for free, but that doesn't pay us to operate!
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Zoe Higgin
Zoe Higgin
2 years agoOf course it’s obvious! Shocking pay with an ever increasing list of demands, duties and responsibilities. No recognition of the ... read more
Of course it’s obvious! Shocking pay with an ever increasing list of demands, duties and responsibilities. No recognition of the effect of the job on us as human beings. Unsociable hours, off duty not being produced until the week before shifts (poor work life balance), bullying, blame culture, abusive patients and relatives, burn out from covid, the changes made re training up students (added pressure and duties with no pay recognition). We don’t feel valued, and any praise we get is shallow. It’s not worth it!!!
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That's quite a list. But it's all, unfortunately, known by us here. Thanks Zoe, for commenting and doing what you do. I know that doesn't really make any difference. But needs saying.
Matt Gibbins
Matt Gibbins
2 years agoPerhaps if the survey that was sent out allowed more than one option for an answer, the answers would have ... read more
Perhaps if the survey that was sent out allowed more than one option for an answer, the answers would have presented themselves…..
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You saw this survey Matt, did you?
Hey Matt, no i was talking about the one that was sent to us earlier in the year. It had a list of options to tick as to why you’ve left nursing but you were only allowed to choose one. I can’t help b... read more
Hey Matt, no i was talking about the one that was sent to us earlier in the year. It had a list of options to tick as to why you’ve left nursing but you were only allowed to choose one. I can’t help but feel if people could have ticked for all the combined reasons, it would have given an over all better picture of why people are leaving.
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Oh, I see, Matt. Yes, survey's are tricky. Sometimes, in order to paint a clear picture we have to ask for a simple answer or we can't get a clear picture. I'm currently preparing for another podcast ... read more
Oh, I see, Matt. Yes, survey's are tricky. Sometimes, in order to paint a clear picture we have to ask for a simple answer or we can't get a clear picture. I'm currently preparing for another podcast video about The NHS People Plan. The next one is on the promise "We are inclusive and compassionate". It's so wide-ranging. It seems to be about unfair treatment and discrimination. Is this something you have an opinion on? If so, share it here and I'll discuss it.
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Graham Dalton
Graham Dalton
2 years agoI left the NHS because of the poor treatment of staff, which often was quite bullying and frequently meant staff ... read more
I left the NHS because of the poor treatment of staff, which often was quite bullying and frequently meant staff felt unappreciated. I have often heard it said that nursing is a profession that eats its young. Whilst I realise this is hyperbole, it also has an element of truth to it. Initially, I found a similar attitude outside the NHS. Starting my own Healthcare company solved that problem for me, and so the staff we now employ. Until we learn to value staff genuinely, retention for all healthcare will be an issue. Add to this what we have been through in the last 2 years or so, with the threat of mandated jabs for covid. We are now where we are.
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Nodded reading that. The People Promise talks about these things(feeling valued, recognised, included, compassion). I'm really interested in how successfully it's able to implement this. Until they ha... read more
Nodded reading that. The People Promise talks about these things(feeling valued, recognised, included, compassion). I'm really interested in how successfully it's able to implement this. Until they have enough staff, everything is in emergency mode and promises may remain just that(since they cannot be properly actioned on the ground).
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Suzanne Loveridge
Suzanne Loveridge
2 years agoI started my nursing career in 1978. I qualified in 1981. I had all the skills I needed to care ... read more
I started my nursing career in 1978. I qualified in 1981. I had all the skills I needed to care for patients and run a ward. Paid to train, not well paid but no immense debt. My knowledge and skills evolved over the next 40 years making a degree a waste of MY time. I gained a diploma under duress! Today we have academic nurses with minimal basic skills expected to practice at a high level requiring months so to get to where I was the day my pass hit the doormat. Ill prepared for life in the nhs owing £thousands for 3 years that doesn’t prepare them to hit the wards running. Some of my NQN had less skills than I had after my first year in training! Disillusioned they leave citing better pay in supermarkets! My training prepared me for a 40 year career! Today unless you get off the wards into senior roles how many will last 10? I persuaded my daughter to get a practical skill job and she ended managing an office on more money than my current band 6 job. No huge pay rise will keep a nurse who isn’t up for it. For every £ pay rise the nhs has expected 10lb extra effort! I would go back to 1978 in a heartbeat and repeat. No way for a £million would I train today!
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Thanks Suzanne.