Recent data shows a big-time shift in UKʼs medical staff experience levels‚ as more than 1‚300 nurses with ten-to-thirty years practice left their jobs in just half-a-year
The Nursing and Midwifery Councilʼs mid-year stats paint a not-so-great picture: experienced staff numbers are going down while total registrations hit 841‚367 (which is kind of an all-time high)
Dr Billy Palmer from Nuffield Trust points out some real issues: “The UKs nursing workforce is getting less experienced with serious gaps in key areas. Learning disability nursing has dropped below what we had 5 years ago; this creates problems for training and mentoring new staff
- 28% of current staff have worked less than 5 years
- Over 2‚500 international staff quit in 6 months
- Veteran nurses (30+ years experience) decreased by 1.4 thousand
Prof Nicola Ranger highlights whats happening with new workers: “Were seeing lots of people leaving within their first 5 years‚ and international recruitment isnt fixing things like it used-to“ – this creates a tough spot for patient care
The NMCs Kuljit Dhillon notes that while nursing remains one of UKʼs most-trusted jobs‚ theres trouble with keeping international staff around: overseas recruitment (which was super-important for growing staff numbers) is now showing some real warning signs