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More than 200 nursing staff have quit one NHS trust in the past six months.
Nursing Standard. 36, 9, 7-7. doi: 10.7748/ns.36.9.7.s5
Published: 01 September 2021
The stark statistic shows the scale of exhaustion and demoralisation in the workforce, the RCN said, with a senior figure blaming the twin pressures of long-term staffing shortages and COVID-19.
Some 182 nurses – 4% of the nurse workforce – and 50 healthcare assistants quit their jobs at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust between January and July.
RCN Northern Ireland associate director Dolores McCormick said the numbers come as no surprise to her.
‘For well over a decade we have been raising concerns about the shortage of nursing staff. The pandemic has made it much worse,’ she said.
‘The RCN has warned consistently that staff are demoralised and exhausted. There has been no let-up for over a year and it is clear the system is struggling to retain experienced nursing staff.’
She called for better pay and measures such as flexible working to boost nurse retention.
A total of 533 nurses left their jobs across Northern Ireland’s five health and social care trusts between January and July, a BBC investigation found, although it is not known how many of these were retirements rather than resignations.
And a July 2020 Audit Office report found there were 2,114 nurse vacancies in Northern Ireland.
Unison regional secretary Patricia McKeown said staff may be joining nursing agencies, with pay being a ‘major’ factor.
‘These charge a premium to cover staff shortages while vacancies remain unfilled.’
The Department of Health Northern Ireland insisted it had achieved ‘real success’ in addressing staff shortage. The Belfast trust declined to comment.
