Millennial medics refuse to work nights or weekends

MILLENNIALS are threatening the future of the NHS by refusing to work evenings and weekends, the chief executive of one health trust warned yesterday.

The Health Service is struggling to fill shifts around the clock because a new generation of workers is no longer satisfied simply with job security and a good pension, but insists on control over which hours they work, too.

Workforce shortages mean that locum trainee doctors can hold hospitals to ransom over what they charge, officials said. The worrying trends are creating tensions with longstanding NHS staff.

The chief executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: ‘The younger generation have massive expectations... in terms of flexibility, variety, options.’

He admitted that the problem existed elsewhere in the workplace, but said the NHS was badly affected because it was a 24/7 operation.

The latest figures show medical job vacancies in the NHS have risen by nearly 10 per cent in three months to more than 107,000 and are expected to continue to rise.