Record numbers of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS staff resign due to 'years of underinvestment' as mass strikes loom

A record number of workers at the trust left their posts last year, figures show. Resignations are soaring across England, with nursing, doctor and midwife trade unions highlighting poor pay and a lack of mental and physical support as critical reasons for the exodus.

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Pat Cullen, general secretary and chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: ‘Years of underinvestment – including a decade of real-terms pay cuts – means record numbers of staff are leaving the NHS.

‘Staff are leaving, realising they can get similar or better pay in supermarkets and retail without the stress of the job, and poor pay is creating severe staff shortages and making patients unsafe. Nurses, patients, and the public deserve better than a government that won’t listen.’

Data from NHS Digital, rounded to the nearest five, show roughly 980 staff resigned from the Portsmouth trust in 2021-2022. This rose from approximately 675 in 2019-2020 in the year leading up to the coronavirus pandemic.

The latest figure is the highest number since records began a decade earlier. Across the country, 140,000 staff members resigned last year – up from 99,000 the year before – while an average of 101,000 staff resigned annually in the nine years before the pandemic.

The data covers medical and administration staff. A resignation does not mean the staff member has left the NHS altogether, as promotions and relocations are also included.

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A Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust spokeswoman said: ‘We recognise retention is an issue across the whole of the NHS. During the pandemic we saw an unusually low turnover of staff but during the following years (2021 and 2022) we saw an increase in staff leaving – most likely a delayed catch up of the artificially low rates during Covid.

‘Retaining people in the NHS is a national priority and we are working hard to understand what impacts a person’s decision to leave the NHS, but more importantly what matters to our people. The Trust has mechanisms in place for our staff to have a voice in the organisation and this includes real time feedback, regular surveys and face to face feedback sessions.’