Over 4,000 patients in England die every year due to poverty pay and rocketing workloads forcing workers out of the NHS
Striking nurses demand higher pay and patient safety in 2023 (Picture: Guy Smallman)
By Judy Cox
Thursday 21 November 2024
SOCIALIST WORKER Issue
Thousands of patients are dying every year because of the high turnover of nurses and doctors in the NHS, a new report has warned.
More than 4,000 patients in England are thought to die every year due to the loss of staff—and this could be a “conservative figure”.
The study analysed data for 236,000 nurses, 41,800 senior doctors and 8.1 million patients admitted to 148 NHS acute hospital trusts in England. Dr Giuseppe Moscelli—lead researcher of the study published in the British Medical Journal—said, “The NHS works at capacity, meaning we don’t have over-capacity like other systems.
“This means we tend to have shortages of people, of clinical staff, rather than an abundance of people.
“Losing skilled people diminishes the continuity of care and operational memory within an NHS trust. These nurses and doctors have been trained in how things work and so breaking that teamwork with colleagues is detrimental for patient care.”
He added, “Our findings underscore the vital role that stable staffing plays in ensuring patient safety.”
Health workers know their patients deserve better—and want Labour to invest in the NHS.
Jordan Rivera is Unison union branch secretary at Homerton hospital in east London. “I’m not surprised to read about the high turnover of staff in the NHS and the negative impact on patient care,” she told Socialist Worker.
“Underinvestment in the NHS has caused real issues and a recruitment and retention crisis is one of them.
“People across the NHS are working really hard coping with an increase in demand. It’s no wonder many choose to leave, given how much more we can earn abroad in the same professions.
“Understaffing is the end result and that is of course going to impact on patient care. Our patients deserve better than this. What the NHS needs is proper investment. “
“When costs go up with inflation, the money hospitals receive must go up in line with that. Otherwise, cuts are made—and this will end up impacting patient care.
“The only way to retain staff is the investment. We need to be properly paid and properly staffed.”
Patricia Marquis, leader of the RCN nurses’ union, said ministers needed to “take urgent action to keep highly skilled nurses in the profession”. “Wherever you look, shifts routinely don’t have enough registered nurses to keep patients safe,” she said.
“This has become normalised and is unacceptable. Boosting recruitment into the profession is crucial to patient safety, but so too is giving experienced staff a reason to stay.
“Unrelenting pressures, low pay and delivering compromised care are forcing thousands of nurses to quit and it is patients who are paying the price.”
Labour’s budget boosted the NHS’s day to day spending by £22 billion over two years, which is a small step in the right direction.
But the money will come with strings attached. Darren Jones, Labour’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said that “reform starts immediately”. “That’s not negotiable,” he emphasised as the budget was delivered.
When Labour talks of “public service reform”, it means making public services run more like a business.
The NHS needs a sharp injection of cash—but the last thing it needs is health secretary Wes Streeting’s “reforms”. He’s already said he wants the health service to rely more on the private sector.
And Labour has front-loaded spending increases, but promises little in the future.
Unions have to keep fighting for higher pay—and to defend the NHS—under the Labour government.
Thousands of patients are dying every year because of the high turnover of nurses and doctors in the NHS, a new report has warned.
More than 4,000 patients in England are thought to die every year due to the loss of staff—and this could be a “conservative figure”.
The study analysed data for 236,000 nurses, 41,800 senior doctors and 8.1 million patients admitted to 148 NHS acute hospital trusts in England. Dr Giuseppe Moscelli—lead researcher of the study published in the British Medical Journal—said, “The NHS works at capacity, meaning we don’t have over-capacity like other systems.
“This means we tend to have shortages of people, of clinical staff, rather than an abundance of people.
“Losing skilled people diminishes the continuity of care and operational memory within an NHS trust. These nurses and doctors have been trained in how things work and so breaking that teamwork with colleagues is detrimental for patient care.”
He added, “Our findings underscore the vital role that stable staffing plays in ensuring patient safety.”
Health workers know their patients deserve better—and want Labour to invest in the NHS.
Jordan Rivera is Unison union branch secretary at Homerton hospital in east London. “I’m not surprised to read about the high turnover of staff in the NHS and the negative impact on patient care,” she told Socialist Worker.
“Underinvestment in the NHS has caused real issues and a recruitment and retention crisis is one of them.
“People across the NHS are working really hard coping with an increase in demand. It’s no wonder many choose to leave, given how much more we can earn abroad in the same professions.
“Understaffing is the end result and that is of course going to impact on patient care. Our patients deserve better than this. What the NHS needs is proper investment. “
“When costs go up with inflation, the money hospitals receive must go up in line with that. Otherwise, cuts are made—and this will end up impacting patient care.
“The only way to retain staff is the investment. We need to be properly paid and properly staffed.”
Patricia Marquis, leader of the RCN nurses’ union, said ministers needed to “take urgent action to keep highly skilled nurses in the profession”. “Wherever you look, shifts routinely don’t have enough registered nurses to keep patients safe,” she said.
“This has become normalised and is unacceptable. Boosting recruitment into the profession is crucial to patient safety, but so too is giving experienced staff a reason to stay.
“Unrelenting pressures, low pay and delivering compromised care are forcing thousands of nurses to quit and it is patients who are paying the price.”
Labour’s budget boosted the NHS’s day to day spending by £22 billion over two years, which is a small step in the right direction.
But the money will come with strings attached. Darren Jones, Labour’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said that “reform starts immediately”. “That’s not negotiable,” he emphasised as the budget was delivered.
When Labour talks of “public service reform”, it means making public services run more like a business.
The NHS needs a sharp injection of cash—but the last thing it needs is health secretary Wes Streeting’s “reforms”. He’s already said he wants the health service to rely more on the private sector.
And Labour has front-loaded spending increases, but promises little in the future.
Unions have to keep fighting for higher pay—and to defend the NHS—under the Labour government.
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