A RECORD number of Warrington and Halton Hospitals Trust staff resigned last year, figures show.

It comes as the number of resignations across England soared, with nursing, doctor and midwife trade unions highlighting poor pay and a lack of mental and physical support as critical reasons for the exodus.

NHS Digital figures, which are rounded to the nearest five, show around 445 NHS staff resigned from their roles at the trust in 2021-22

This was up from 340 in 2019-2020, which was the year leading to the pandemic – and also the highest number since records began a decade earlier.

A spokesperson for Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are incredibly grateful to all our staff and know from what leaving staff members tell us that there is a wide range of reasons that influence their decision to move on.
“This includes promotion, re-location and those that delayed retirement plans due to the pandemic.

“The figures also include our temporary workforce that were employed to support the pandemic.

“Attracting, retaining, and developing our staff is at the heart of what we do.

“We continue to successfully recruit from our communities, so that we can provide the highest levels of care for our patients.”

“We appreciate that working in the NHS has its challenges and our staff work exceptionally hard to care for patients. We are doing all we can to support staff in accessing wellbeing support, which has been increased during and since the pandemic.”

Across the country, 140,000 staff members resigned last year – up from 99,000 the year before – while an average of 101,000 staff resigned annually in the nine years before the pandemic.

The figures cover medical and administration staff. A resignation does not necessarily mean the staff member has left the NHS altogether, as the figures also include any promotions and relocations.

Pat Cullen, general secretary, and chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "Years of underinvestment – including a decade of real-terms pay cuts – means record numbers of staff are leaving the NHS.

"Staff are leaving, realising they can get similar or better pay in supermarkets and retail without the stress of the job, and poor pay is creating severe staff shortages and making patients unsafe.

"Nurses, patients, and the public deserve better than a government that won’t listen."