Responding to the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s annual data report, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said:
“It is deeply alarming that over 5,000 young early-career nursing staff chose to quit the profession last year, most vowing never to return. When the vacancy rate is high and care standards often poor due to staffing levels, the NHS cannot afford to lose a single individual.
“New ministers have to grasp the nettle and make nursing an attractive career. Half of all leavers chose to go earlier than planned last year.
“Working in understaffed, under-resourced services is taking its toll, with poor physical health, mental health and burnout pushing highly-trained nursing staff out the door. This is a tragedy for patient care.
“The reality for the government is that international recruitment is masking the failure to recruit enough domestic nursing staff, with equal numbers joining services from overseas. Our migrant nursing staff are incredible and vital to the delivery of our health and care services, but this overreliance is unsustainable and unethical. The new government must step in and rescue the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
According to the NMC annual report, the number of people who left the register in the last year was 27,168, a slight decrease from last year. However, one fifth (20.3%) of nursing and midwifery professionals who left the register in the last year (5,508) did so within the first ten years of joining their chosen profession. This is the third year of this increasing, up from 18.8% in 2020-2021, and 49% of those who completed the leavers survey said they left earlier than expected.
