NHS: Resignations

(asked on 19th December 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of UK-born clinicians that have left the NHS in the last 12 months; and whether she holds information on the number that have moved abroad for work.


Answered by
Andrew Stephenson Portrait
Andrew Stephenson
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 8th January 2024

The numbers of leavers from the National Health Service, for staff employed in NHS trusts and other core organisation in England are published quarterly by NHS England as part of its NHS Workforce Statistics Collection. The data for the annual period to the end of June 2023 is attached.

Leavers data is presented for staff groups by the self-reported nationality of staff. This will not necessarily be the same as the place of birth of a member of staff but may a useful proxy. The data shows that in the 12 months to June 2023, there were 27,813 nurses and health visitors and 13,574 doctors who left service in NHS trusts and other core organisations who had a United Kingdom nationality. Other staffing groups can be access through the data linked.

The data includes staff employed by NHS trusts and integrated care boards but excludes staff directly employed by general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other providers such as community interest companies and private providers. The count of “leavers” includes staff leaving to work in primary care, to local authorities and to private providers. Each year there is flows of staff going each way between NHS trusts and other health providers. This is particularly important to note for doctors as data on leavers will include junior doctors moving on planned rotations and placements into primary care or other settings.

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