24 January 2023 , 11:55
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A health leader has warned experienced nurses are leaving the NHS in "droves" with staff being "run ragged".
The President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Adrian Boyle told MPs on Tuesday he was worried "burn out will lead to burn away" with existing staff overwhelmed.
Pressed at the Health and Social Care Committee on whether he is concerned about staff retention, he warned: "I'm worried burn out will lead to burn away".
He warned MPs: "What I'm also seeing is a lot of nurses, particularly the experienced nurses... who know how to get things done are leaving in droves.
"Everytime I go into work I'm seeing nurses [say] 'could you sign this leaving card'.
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"We are haemorrhaging experienced emergency nurses because they find it very frustrating".
Dr Boyle said some nurses feel "overwhelmed" and that "their registration is at risk because it feels so dangerous, they are finding it extremely difficult".
Striking nurses during a recent day of industrial action by the Royal College of Nursing (Vincent Cole - Manchester Evening News)"I think staff morale is a huge concern for us at the moment".
In September 2022 data examined by the Nuffield Trust showed a record number of nurses quitting the NHS in England with more than 40,000 leaving in one year - one in nine of the workforce.
It comes after Dr Boyle warned earlier this month that between 300-500 people were dying each week because of delays and problems in emergency care.
Dr Adrian Boyle warns the NHS is 'hemorrhaging experienced emergency' nurses (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)He told MPs that staff are being "run ragged", adding: "What we are seeing now is that in most emergency departments the staff - which are probably the same number staff as last year - are also running a medical ward in addition to be responsible for all the new arrivals.
"The dilution and delay of care in the emergency department is such a risk we feel this is justified."
Asked about a visit to No10 to discuss pressures facing the NHS, he went on: "We welcome this problem is being taken seriously because our situation is so dangerous and so serious at the moment we are very glad people are taking this seriously".
He said surge capacity funds given to hospitals were welcome but warned there were "serious structural problems that impair our ability to do urgent and emergency care".
"We have the second lowest number of beds in the OECD comparators, we run our hospitals far too full with very, very high occupancy levels
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"It's a step in the right direction but this is going to take a long time to recover. Things have been going wrong for quite a long time and got to a head over December."