Care provided by the NHS has worsened over the last year, according to a survey filled in by staff working in the national health sector.
Approximately 636,348 NHS employees completed the NHS Staff Survey for England, which has showed a rise in workers wanting to leave the sector due to being unsatisfied in their jobs.
An alarming number of employees are leaving the NHS due to the increased working pressures, not having enough time to do their job correctly and feeling worried about the standard of care they provide to patients.
More than 23% of people working in the NHS will start looking for a different job outside of the organisation within the next year, the survey has reported.
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Results from the survey reveal that 37.1% of NHS staff are unhappy with the standard of care the organisation offers, increasing by nearly 10% from 2019.
In addition, the survey findings have found that 40% of paramedics have witnessed more errors over the last 12 months which put patients and ambulance staff at risk of harm.
According to the survey, 50% of paramedics have experienced burn out due to their job in the last year.
It also reveals that only a quarter of NHS employees are happy with their pay, down from 32.6% the previous year.
Chief Executive of NHS Employers, Danny Mortimer, said: “It is no surprise given that we have now witnessed several months of industrial action by NHS staff that those same staff, who have worked through extraordinary challenges over the past few years, have expressed their feelings of deep frustration in these responses.
“It is of course concerning to see that staff are considering leaving for another job will do so as soon as they find one and that, despite the continuing efforts of health leaders to recruit and retain employees, the numbers of those willing to recommend the NHS as an employer has also dropped. This is reinforced by the responses to staff satisfaction on pay.”
He added: “At the same time the hard work of team leaders and managers is borne out by the results that more staff say that they feel listened to by their line managers, that they take effective action to help with any problems and that they take a positive interest in their health and wellbeing.
“However, we must not shy away from the fact that so many of our people tell us and the Government that they cannot work to the best of their abilities.”
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He concluded: “With 124,000 vacant posts, including over 40,000 vacancies in nursing, it is also not unexpected that there has also been a fall in the number of staff who say there are enough of them to do their jobs properly.”
Sally Warren, Director of Policy at The King’s Fund, noted: “The findings show staff are being stretched to breaking point, with staff feeling undervalued, under huge pressure and questioning their roles in the NHS.
“Bringing down the NHS waiting list is one of the Prime Minister’s five key priorities, but it will not be possible to tackle the growing backlog of care if NHS staff continue to work in overstretched teams and report that work makes them feel unwell.”
She added: “Looking after staff in the NHS should be the Prime Minister’s first priority if he wants to reduce waiting lists and waiting times.”
