NHS staffing crisis: 'I left because it wasn't worth it'

The NHS is in a jobs crisis, and needs to find 62,000 medical professionals to fill vacancies across the UK, according to a report by MPs.

They found that high numbers of doctors, nurses and midwives are quitting but not being replaced.

Pay, working conditions, and feeling under huge pressure were given as reasons for leaving the NHS.

BBC Newsbeat spoke to some former NHS workers to ask why they left, and what needs to change.

All the people who spoke for this article wished to remain anonymous. Their names have been changed.

Sarah is a midwife who left the NHS to work in a private hospital.

"You kind of dread your shifts, you wonder if there's going to be enough staff, whether you're going to get a break in the whole 12 and a half hours," she says.

"You do have days off in between but you're so run down and so tired.

"It does take a toll, also on your social life, family life, trying to find a work-life balance."

She said money worries had got worse since the government took away bursaries - financial support that doesn't need to be repaid, unlike a loan.

"You're gonna be left in so much debt, paid peanuts when you qualify and overworked," Sarah says.

"With £70,000 worth of debt to get the degree, people are not going to train.

"The wages don't cover it, you are just going to be paying it back for the rest of your life".

"The bursaries is definitely a big one I think that would attract people to it."

Jane, another midwife who is in the process of leaving the NHS, recognises the picture painted by Sarah and tells Newsbeat "the system is broken".

"The service that we're expected to provide goes against so many of the things that we all stand for", she says.

"I think for every 30 midwives that qualify, only one of them takes the job.

"So where are the other 29 midwives? Have we broken them so that they don't even want to go into the field that they've worked in for free the last three years?"

Tom, who until recently worked for an NHS ambulance service as a 999 call handler left due to "stress levels being through the roof".

"I was watching people suffer, wait horrendous amounts of time, potentially be harmed by the delays," he says.

"And some of that is based on crews being stuck at hospital, but also the lack of call handling staff.

"We have a massive recruitment retention issue with even answering our 999 calls, let alone our paramedics and our front-line crews.

"For the responsibility I have versus the pay I had, it wasn't worth it."

"And seeing that kind of deterioration in culture and morale across the organisation just made me think: 'I don't think anything's ever going to change'."

"You've got emergency services personnel that are struggling to put their heating on and food on the table and you just think: 'that is not what we expect or should be giving to the people that are helping our country'."

He has since become a lorry driver and "has not looked back" since, he told Newsbeat.

The Government recently announced NHS staff will be getting a pay rise but NHS workers say this isn't meeting the increased cost of living.

Porters, cleaners and support workers are set to receive a 9% pay rise.

Most nurses are set to receive a 5% pay rise, and advanced clinical roles or management will have a pay rise of 4%.

Prices have risen by an 9.4% in the UK, according to official figures.

The government has said NHS England is creating long-term plans to recruit more staff.

NHS England is planning to recruit 50,000 more nurses by 2024, says the Department of Health and Social Care.

With a £95m cash injection into recruitment to maternity services and £5000m for social care.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

Do you work for the NHS in England? Are you thinking of leaving or have you recently left? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy