More than 70 per cent of NHS workers have considered quitting in the past six months, a new GMB survey shows.
In a poll of almost 1,000 GMB members, 70.6 per cent answered yes to the question ‘Have you considered leaving the NHS in the last six months?’
This was a big rise on the previous year, when 61 per cent of NHS workers said that they had considered leaving.
Almost 55 per cent cited stress as a main reason for wanting to leave, more than half said pay, 15 per cent said bullying and 8 per cent violence and abuse.
Latest figures show 99,460 NHS vacancies in England in September 2021.
In the survey - delivered as evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body this week - NHS workers also reported levels of stress that were 36 per cent higher than the average for workers across the wider economy.
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Officer, said:
"Before the pandemic the NHS was on its knees - after two years of covid it is close to collapse.
“We have a staffing black hole of almost 100,000 – and stress and poverty pay are set to drive thousands more out of the door.
“Health workers have lost thousands of pounds from their pay packets in real terms during a decade of conservative mismanagement.
“The NHS in England is no longer a Living Wage employer.
"Instead of empty clapping gestures and promises of pretend hospitals, this Government needs to give staff proper pay rise.
