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23 August 2022
6 min read

Nurse Retention Survey - Ranked: Why Nurses Leave

Matt Farrah
Nurses.co.uk Founder

Mat Martin

Richard Gill

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40% agreed with this statement: “I am considering leaving my job as a Nurse”

300 Nurses told us the one thing that would make them leave nursing. Pay, Wellbeing, Workload came out Top, Second, Third.

In a recent survey we ran, 300 Nurses were asked to choose one reason that would make them leave the profession.

Here’s the list, ranked in order of popularity:

1. Low level of pay 16.55%

2. Poor wellbeing 13.79%

3. Unmanageable workload 12.76%

4. Early retirement due to at least one of the above 9.66%

5. Undervalued (lack of respect / not valued / not recognised) 9.31%

6. Patient safety concerns 8.97%

7. Unfair treatment 7.24%

8. Poor management 4.83%

9. Shift patterns / Hours / Lack of flexibility 4.14%

10. Work-life balance out of sync 3.10%

11. Physical exhaustion 2.76%

12. Low levels of staffing 2.76%

13. Career progression (lack of) 1.72%

14. Paperwork 1.38%

15. Covid 0.69%

16. Revalidation concerns 0.34%

How We Conducted The Survey

The survey listed the top 16 options that are understood to be the most common reasons given by Nurses when leaving the profession (we took our lead from RCN, NMC and NHS surveys).

Each respondent was asked to choose just one - “Choose the one thing that made you leave or would be the main reason for you leaving”.

What Is The Employment Background Of The Respondents?

41% agreed with this statement: “I am staying in my role, but I think something needs to be done.”

40% agreed with this statement: “I am considering leaving my job as a Nurse.”

19% agreed with this statement: “I have recently left my job as a Nurse.”

40% agreed with this statement: “I am considering leaving my job as a Nurse.”

Only 1 person agreed with this statement: “I am staying in my role, and I think there’s no issue with nursing retention.”

How Does This Compare To Similar Surveys?

It is interesting that a much larger survey by the NMC on the subject last year had Pay ranking much further down the list.

Pressure and stress was still a key reason.

An RCN survey also from 2021 has Pay in fifth place while “Feeling undervalued” is the number one reason for leaving.

It ought to be noted that our survey came out soon after the Government announced that it will award Nurses a £1400 pay increase for 2022-23.

This represents a 2% increase for some, and a 4% increase for others, at a time when inflation is hitting 10%. It has been received poorly. So, perhaps, this increased the likelihood of people to choose Pay as their exit trigger.

We also asked each Nurse to share their current career position. 40% said they are considering leaving their job as a Nurse. This extraordinarily high figure chimes with an even larger % given in a survey for the RCN - where 57% of Nurses said they were, “considering or planning leaving their current post”.(Royal College of Nursing report).

Huge jump in the number of Nurses who say they are considering leaving - given in a RCN survey.

What Are The Repercussions Of This On The NHS?

Low morale and poor retention figures are the outcomes of this. Low morale can impact patient care and increase staff absence rates.

This increases the cost of nursing for the tax payer (estimated at £21.7bn - see our report for all the impacts of poor retention).

It will increase the reliance on bank nurses, and inflate the nursing agency / temp agency market.

What Is Being Done To Fix This?

In 2019 the Government announced The People Plan. And the People Promise packages the aims of that into 7 employee support promises which serve as a guide for how they intend to support staff.

The People Promise has no control over pay scales.

Here at Nurses.co.uk we have created a range of services that we are providing the NHS to help them support and retain their staff.

But national decisions and Government policies (Brexit and George Osborne’s scrapping of Student Nurse bursaries) have hampered retention and attraction efforts.

Brexit lead to an exodus of EU nursing staff and the cost of qualifying as a Nurse is not a debt everyone is able to take on (even with the partly resurrected bursary scheme).

Currently, there’s an effort to look further afield to hire nursing staff and this year’s cohort of new Nurses on the NMC register from outside the EU / EAA is 150% times larger than the previous year.

43,417 new Nurses joined the register in the last year. But over 27,000 left. That’s a real-terms increase of just 18,000. And, as far as staff numbers go, the NHS is already 40,000 Nurses short.

That means 11% of the NHS' required number of Nurses is missing.

What Do You Think?

Please post your comments below.

Here's what Andy Hanson said in response to the survey:

I have worked in healthcare since 1998 and Professional Nursing on both side of our planet and the core issues are the same. Unfortunately there are value systems in our societies which undervalue our natural human responses to life which are necessary building blocks for the skills and abilities of al health care workers. Therefore these skills and abilities aren't recognised and staff are not acknowledged for their efforts and achievements as maybe an Accountant or Lawyer might be. This has been evident in the recent pandemic and more so in so called 'developed' societies. In the UK the contradiction between being a so called 'essential' worker and being offered a clap and 1% pay rise are a reflection of the Universal power imbalance we experience on a daily basis.

2 years ago

Thomas Boyle
Thomas Boyle
2 years ago
I have been in healthcare since 1979. during that time there has been times when the NHS has been starved ... read more

I have been in healthcare since 1979. during that time there has been times when the NHS has been starved of funds and times when the goverment has thrown money at the problem. There has always been a shortage of staff and one of the less advertised ways of addressing this recently seems to be to reduce the number of beds . There is a new hospital being built in the region , the total number of beds in it will be less than the 2 hospitals that it is replacing. There have been 2 hospitals nearby in the last 10 years that have closed, amalgimated thier children,s wards with another hospital, no extra beds in the unit that remained. Add to that A&E being closed at nights or being down graded to minor injuries or urgent care centres with reduced opening times. Over the years this has been a recurring theme, recently it appears to be occurring more. Wards and departments are being closed or reduced hours, not due to underuse, but because they do not have the staff to run them. I would leave the profession now, but I am only a few years off retiring, and it is too late for me to retrain.
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- Thanks Thomas. And, as I seem to say for so many comments about the NHS on this site - I'm so sorry to hear this. I would also like to say, thanks for doing what you've done since 1979. I was chatting... read more
  
  Thanks Thomas. And, as I seem to say for so many comments about the NHS on this site - I'm so sorry to hear this. I would also like to say, thanks for doing what you've done since 1979. I was chatting with a neighbour the other day. He's in his 70s, and has recently been in hospital with a UTI. They had to discharge him(against the doctor's best wishes)early due to a lack of beds. He didn't want to fuss, just needed to lie down. Which he did, after he got home and climbed into his own bed. He said it was a difficult two days. It's not the level of care the medical profession wants to be delivering. I can't imagine what it must be like not being able to provide the care you would like to.
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  Replied by: Matt Farrah
  
  I agree with a significant amount of what you have shared Thomas: I am in a similar position and career age group. I have witnessed a loss of cottage hospitals and all the impact that that has had - p... read more
  
  I agree with a significant amount of what you have shared Thomas: I am in a similar position and career age group. I have witnessed a loss of cottage hospitals and all the impact that that has had - pebble in a pond effect. The numbers do not add up....have not made sense to me in 40 years of being qualified as a RGN
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  Replied by: Nikki Brooks

Nurse Retention Survey - Ranked: Why Nurses Leave