Nurses feel the pressure

Statistics don’t always tell the full story, but the latest NHS figures on nurse retention speak volumes. And the sound is far from easy on the ears.

We now have more nurses leaving the NHS than we have coming in.

You don’t need a degree in Business Administration or Employee Management to know that those sums add up to a whole load of trouble.

Primary school maths tells you that.

What should have alarm bells ringing in the corridors of power are the numbers involved.

According to figures from a BBC probe, more than 33,000 nurses walked away from the NHS last year. Leavers outnumbered joiners by 3,000!

Nursing leaders are describing the situation as a “dangerous and downward spiral.”

There are few positive stories emerging from our hospital wards at the moment.

Patient care and the provision of NHS services dominate, but often we forget just how much pressure is put on the workforce.

The result of that extra stress and pressure is, as these figures suggest, a loss of staff. And with that comes even more pressure on those that are left, and those just entering the profession.

The future of Sunderland and South Tyneside hospital is under the microscope today and, as we reveal, there is strong talk of merging services.

As ever, the promise of retaining the best possible service to the public is one of the key areas of reassurance.

Given the alarming figures revealed in this report,it’s not just the quality of service that should be exercising minds, but the quality of working life for the staff.