More workers leaving than joining Welsh NHS
NEW figures show that more doctors, nurses and health visitors have left the Welsh NHS than started work in it this year.
Doctors’ groups say many staff are leaving after “burning out”.
A Freedom of Information request has revealed that since December last year 187 more doctors have left the NHS in Wales than have started work.
The figures also show that over the same period there has been a net exodus of 287 nurses and health visitors.
In the just under 10 months, 1,372 doctors have started work with 1,559 leaving. During that time 1,539 nurses and health visitors started work with 1,826 leavers.
Cardiff and Vale Health Board has had 454 doctors joining with 495 leaving – a reduction of 41.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said that uncompetitive pay and stress were some of the reasons for the fall in nurse numbers.
Tina Donnelly, director of the RCN in Wales said: “The RCN in Wales has long been highlighting concerns that low staffing levels can compromise patient safety and that is why we worked so hard with the Welsh Government to see the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 made law, but that cannot guarantee that an adequate number of nurses are always available at any given time.
“Our research shows that 69% of nurses do overtime at least once a week – half of which is unpaid – in real terms that means nurses in Wales give the NHS extra hours to the value of 815 full-time nursing staff every week.
“While the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 ensures that an adequate number of nurses are working on each ward, if there aren’t enough nurses, through either recruitment issues or sickness, then the only alternative is, as happened at Singleton Hospital last week, to close wards to new admissions to ensure the safety of patients.
“Add to this the issue of stress in the workplace, which has seen underpaid and overworked nurses suffering significantly.
“Recent figures show that more than 3,000 staff have been absent through stress so far this year, compared to around 5,000 in the whole of 2016.”
Doctors’ groups have also expressed concern about the figures.
The BMA’s Welsh council chairman Dr David Bailey said doctors were “burning out”.
“These figures are deeply concerning. Wales is facing unprecedented recruitment pressures and we hear from our members that doctors – who are working harder than ever to make sure patients are seen promptly – are burning out and leaving the profession,” he said.
The Welsh Government said it is taking steps to train more healthcare professionals.
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “There are more frontline NHS staff working in Wales than ever before, including consultants, nurses, midwives and paramedics.
“Despite this, our programme for government makes a commitment to attract and train more nurses and other healthcare professionals across Wales. We are taking positive action to deliver on this commitment through our successful Train Work Live campaign for doctors and nurses.
“In February we announced an £95m package to support a range of education and training programmes for healthcare professionals, including nurses. This represents a £10m increase on the package agreed for 2016/17 and will enable more than 3000 new students to join those already studying healthcare education programmes across Wales.”