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The latest NHS survey results (published today) reveal that just a quarter (26%) of NHS staff are satisfied with their pay, and 17% are considering leaving the profession for another job.
The survey also revealed that staff are growing increasingly dissatisfied with how the NHS is organised and the standard of care they are able to provide. The results reveal that:
- 26% think there are enough staff at their organisation for them to do their job properly, down from 38.3% in 2020
- 57% would recommend the NHS as a place to work, down from 66.8% in 2020
- 63% are happy with the standard of care provided by their organisation, down from 74.2% in 2020.
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, part of the NHS Confederation, said the results come as “no surprise” given the backdrop of industrial action.
“It is, of course, concerning to see that 17% of staff considering leaving for another job will do so as soon as they find one and that, despite the continuing efforts of health leaders to recruit and retain employees, the numbers of those willing to recommend the NHS as an employer has also dropped. This is reinforced by the responses to staff satisfaction on pay,” he said.
Over-stretched workforce is impacting on patient care
Roughly 636,300 (46%) of staff responded between September and December 2022 out of the 1.3 million NHS employees in England who were invited to participate. In total, 264 NHS organisations took part, including all 215 trusts in England.
The results also reveal high levels of burn out, stress and ill-health, all of which will have added to the growing desire to leave the profession. The survey found:
- 45% of staff have felt unwell as a result of work-related stress in the last 12 months
- 57% have come into work despite feeling unwell in the past three months
- 56% of ambulance technicians and 54% of paramedics have experienced musculoskeletal problems as a result of work activities in the last 12 months
- 34% said they feel burnt out because of work, with this rising to 49% of ambulance staff.
Dr Billy Palmer, Senior Fellow at the Nuffield Trust said: “The performance figures published today show that many of the problems facing the service have not eased since NHS staff were surveyed. With 7.2 million people waiting for routine care, little recent progress towards the NHS’s target to eliminate 18-month waits, and a deeply concerning jump of 7 percentage points in people waiting over two months to begin cancer treatment in January, NHS staff are going to be facing immense pressure at work for years to come.
“The concerning consequence of the unrelenting pressure on the NHS is that patient safety is being compromised. With a third of staff reporting they have seen errors, near misses or incidents in the last month that could have hurt staff and/or patients, these are worrying times for all of us.”
Workforce plan must include staffing numbers
NHS leaders are now calling on the government to invest in the long overdue workforce plan, and to detail how it plans to fill these gaps.
However, The Times has reported that the Treasury is lobbying for the removal of all staffing numbers from the NHS workforce plan. Professor Philip Banfield, BMA council chair, says a failure to include numbers in the plan will mean there is “no plan at all”.
“Watering down this long-awaited workforce plan at the 11th hour would be a further sign of the Government firmly burying its head in the sand.
“We urge ministers to do the right thing by staff, patients and the whole NHS and care system,” he said.