NHS lost one in nine staff in pandemic
ONE in nine health staff left the NHS during the pandemic and the exodus is speeding up, according to official figures say.
An astonishing 140,000 workers quit amid the crisis and a March staff survey revealed another 31% are thinking of leaving – 5% more than last year.
Exhaustion, low pay and stress were reasons given by those who “stuck it out” until the worst was over.
The figures came as a nursing union chief warns that Boris Johnson is presiding over the death of the health service.
DESPERATE
Unison’s Christina McAnea will tell a health workers’ conference tomorrow the PM is forcing desperate patients to go private as waiting lists soar above six million.
She will say in Liverpool: “The more this becomes normal practice, the more the very essence of the NHS is undermined. And it spells disaster for anyone without the means to pay.
“The NHS is buckling after years of underfunding,” she adds. “Staff gave everything in the fight against the virus, suffering exhaustion, burnout, and PTSD in some cases.
“All they get in return is a real-terms pay cut.”