Responding to findings from Nuffield Trust which show early career staff in the NHS have become more stressed and unhappy over the past decade, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said:

“These findings are a ticking time bomb for the NHS. Young nursing staff are the future of the workforce, but those at the start of their careers are the most unhappy. A new nurse today is likely to face extreme pressure in severely understaffed services, with stagnant pay and little prospect of progression. In these conditions, it is little wonder so many feel undervalued and overworked.

“The number of people leaving within the first years of their career has skyrocketed, while applications to study nursing are in collapse. Ministers need to realise you cannot fix a broken NHS without making nursing a more attractive career, starting with a proper pay rise and new investment to grow the workforce. That's how you support staff to deliver care the way they want to and improve job satisfaction.”

Ends

Notes to editors

There are currently 31,774 nursing vacancies in the NHS in England.

Data from the NMC register April-September 2024 found that the numbers of professionals leaving the register within five years of joining has increased dramatically, up 48.6% in the six months to September, compared to the same period last year. Early leavers in September 2020 stood at 811, but have now risen to 1,799.

According to the latest UCAS figures for the January equal consideration deadline in 2025, the number of students applying to study nursing is at a record low since UCAS began publishing data in its current format in 2019. Since 2021, the number of applications has collapsed by 35% in England and by 34% across the entire of the United Kingdom.