A major increase in nurses quitting the profession early will make government NHS reforms ‘impossible to deliver’, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned.
New analysis from the union suggests thousands of UK-educated nurses are leaving the profession within 10 years of registering due to burnout and exhaustion – an issue the RCN says has been triggered by low staffing levels, increasing patient need and lack of government support.
According to the RCN, by the end of the next parliament more than 11,000 nurses will have quit within their first decade of registration – equivalent to the entire district nurse, health visitor and school nurse workforce employed by the NHS in England.
The RCN is warning ministers that they face a ‘perfect storm’ of more staff leaving and fewer nurses joining the profession.
Its analysis suggests the number of nurses leaving the register within 10 years of joining has increased by 43% between 2021 to 2024, while those leaving within five years has risen by 67%.
As part of its 10-Year Health Plan the government is planning to modernise the NHS and shift more care into the community.
This will require tens of thousands of additional nurses working within in the community, and the RCN says that without swift intervention, this figure is likely to rise.
According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) leavers survey, nursing staff cite poor physical and mental health, burnout, exhaustion and changes in personal circumstances as the key reasons for leaving outside of retirement.
The NMC’s most recent report found that more than 5,500 early-career nurses and midwives had quit in a year.
This latest warning follows recent RCN analysis of the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS) data, which showed a collapse in the number of people studying to become nurses across every English region.
RCN general secretary and chief executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, 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.’
Professor Ranger added that without decisive action the shift from hospital to community will be ‘impossible to deliver’.
The RCN is urging the government to substantially raise nurse pay to bring more people into the profession and for graduate loans for nurses who agree to stay working in the public sector and NHS to be waived.
The union believes this would boost recruitment, retention and ease staff shortages.
There are currently 32,000 unfilled nursing posts across England’s NHS alone.
A Department of Health and Social Care 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.’
Last month, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that the primary care workforce in England is facing ‘unsustainable’ pressures, while community health services are struggling with increasing waiting lists and insufficient beds.
A version of this story was first published on our sister title Nursing in Practice.
