An increasing number of British-trained nurses will leave the profession in England within a decade of registering, a trend that could jeopardize the government’s healthcare overhaul, a union has said.
More than 11,000 people will have left the register within the first ten years, according to analysis by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) of the latest official figures.
Low staffing levels, increasing patient demands and poor morale were among the factors cited by the largest nurses’ union, which examined data held by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the regulator for nurses and midwives in Great Britain, and nurses in England. .
Prof. Nicola Ranger, general secretary and chief executive of the RCN, said: “Nursing is an incredible career, and it should be one for life, but thousands are giving up prematurely because they are burned out, underpaid and demoralised.
“It’s a perfect storm for ministers as thousands leave the profession prematurely and student recruitment collapses. It is also a heartbreaking situation for those who spend their lives caring for others.”
Ranger said Health Secretary Wes Streeting needed to give nurses “a reason to stay” and she called for new investment in nursing, better wages and loan waivers for those committed to a career in nursing NHS and the public sector.
The number of nurses leaving within ten years of registration has increased by 43% between 2021 and 2024, according to the union’s analysis. The number who left within five years was found to have increased by 67%.
Those leaving nursing are a combination of newly qualified nursing staff and experienced staff who retired during the pandemic.
The RCN’s own survey of those who left found that nurses cited poor physical and mental health, burnout or exhaustion and changes in personal circumstances as the main reasons for leaving the profession after retirement.
The concerns emerged after the government last month launched a consultation on its 10-year plan to transform the NHS, which includes a long-term workforce plan aimed at increasing the number of nurses from around 350,000 to 550,000 by 2036-37.
The plan, which will be published next year, should be supported by three major themes: a shift from “hospital to community with new community health centers, digitalization and disease prevention.
In addition, the government has focused on the hospital backlog in England, with plans to increase the number of appointments and operations per week by 40,000.
Labor pledged before the general election that the target of starting treatment within 18 weeks for most NHS patients in England would be achieved within five years.
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Streeting also promised in opposition that Labor would oversee “the largest expansion of NHS staff in history” and that they would be told to work evenings and weekends to help reduce waiting times.
The government is facing other winds besides nurses leaving the workforce. In September, nurses in England rejected the 5.5% pay rise they received this year. The RCN says the value of experienced nurses’ wages has fallen by 25% between 2010 and 2024 under various Conservative governments.
The number of people studying to become nurses has fallen substantially across England, according to analysis released by the RCN last month, with some areas seeing a 40% drop in successful applications.
The Department of Health and Social Care has said that the NHS has faced chronic staff shortages for years and that it will take time to attract the necessary staff to build a healthcare service for the future.
A spokesperson said: “This government has inherited a workforce that has been undervalued for years, leaving them burnt out and demoralised. That is why we have accepted the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies to award NHS staff an above-inflation pay rise.
“It will take time, but together we will restore and rebuild our NHS, so it is a service workforce we can be proud to work in again.”