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2 days ago
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Increasing numbers of UK-trained nurses are set to leave the profession in England within a decade of registering, in a trend that could jeopardise the government’s overhaul of healthcare, according to a union.
More than 11,000 will have quit the register within their first 10 years on it, according to analysis by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) of the latest official figures.
Low staffing levels, increasing patient need and poor morale were among the factors cited by the largest nursing union, which examined data kept by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the regulator for nurses and midwives in the UK, and nursing associates in England.
Prof Nicola Ranger, the RCN’s general secretary and chief executive, said: “Nursing is an incredible career, and it should be one for life, but thousands are quitting early because they are burnt out, underpaid and demoralised.
“It is a perfect storm for ministers as thousands leave the profession early and student recruitment collapses. It’s also a heartbreaking state of affairs for those who want to spend their lives caring for others.”
Ranger said the health secretary, Wes Streeting, needed to give nurses “a reason to stay” and she called for new investment in nursing, better pay and waiving the loans of whose who commit to the career in the NHS and public sector.
The number of nurses leaving within 10 years of registering increased by 43% between 2021 and 2024, according to the union’s analysis. Those leaving within five years was found to have risen by 67%.
Those leaving nursing are a combination of newly qualified nursing staff and experienced staff who had returned from retirement during the pandemic.
The RCN’s own survey of those departing found that nurses cited poor physical and mental health, burnout or exhaustion and changes in personal circumstances as key reasons for leaving the profession outside retirement.
The concerns were raised after the government last month launched a consultation on its 10-year plan to transform the NHS, which includes a long-term workforce plan intended to increase the number of nurses from about 350,000 to 550,000 in 2036-37.
The plan, which is to be published next year, is intended to be underpinned by three big themes: a shift from “hospital to community with new neighbourhood health centres, digitisation and sickness prevention.
Separately, the government has been targeting the hospital backlog in England, with plans to increase the number of appointments and operations each week by 40,000.
Labour made a pledge before the general election that a target to start treatment within 18 weeks for most NHS patients in England would be hit within five years.
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Streeting, also pledged while in opposition that Labour would oversee “the biggest expansion of NHS staff in history” and that they would be told to work on evenings and weekends to help cut back waiting times.
The government faces other winds aside from nurses leaving the workforce. In September, nurses in England rejected the 5.5% pay rise they were given for this year. The RCN says the value of experienced nurses’ pay dropped by 25% under the various Conservative governments between 2010 and 2024.
The number of people studying to become nurses has fallen substantially across England, according to analysis released last month by the RCN, with some areas recording a 40% drop in successful applications
The Department of Health and Social Care has said the NHS has faced chronic workforce shortages for years and that bringing in the necessary staff to build a health service for the future will take time.
A spokesperson said: “This government has inherited a workforce that has been undervalued for years, leaving them burnt out and demoralised. That’s why we accepted the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies to award NHS staff with an above inflation pay rise.
“It will take time, but together we will recover and rebuild our NHS, so it is a service staff can be proud to work in once again.”
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