One in 10 nurses leaving NHS each year

One in 10 nurses leave the NHS in England each year, new figures reveal.

Over 33,000 nurses left the NHS last year, piling pressure on understaffed hospitals and community services.

The figures represent a rise of 20 per cent since 2012-13, and show that there are now more leavers than joiners.

The figures, provided to the BBC by NHS Digital, have been compiled as part of a thorough look at nursing by the BBC.

The figures reveal that over 10 per cent of the nursing workforce have left NHS employment in each of the past three years, the number of leavers would be enough to staff more than 20 average-sized hospital trusts, and leavers outnumbered joiners by 3,000 last year.

The figures also suggest that Brexit may have had an impact on the number of EU nurses leaving, and the number of joiners has halved since the EU referendum.

Nurse leaders said it was a ‘dangerous and downward spiral’, but NHS bosses said the problem was being solved.

In Northern Ireland and Scotland, the leaver rates are rising, although the number of joiners did outnumber the leavers.

In Wales, however, there were more leavers than joiners, according to Freedom of Information reports.