East of England healthcare workers do not want their children to follow in their career footsteps

A THIRD of healthcare workers say they would urge their children not to follow a career in medicine – threatening a further staffing crisis for the NHS in the future.

32% of health staff surveyed said they would not encourage their children to join the profession – compared to 23% of the general public in the East of England who would steer their kids away from a career in health.

Low pay, uncaring bosses and long hours were all cited by health workers as being the worst aspects of the job, according to specialist nursing and healthcare jobsite  – jobmedic.co.uk

22% of healthcare workers surveyed say they are considering leaving the profession – just as figures show the NHS is understaffed by 107,743, the largest figure in its 70-year history.

63% of nurses say they feel the public is not aware of the challenges they encounter on the wards on a daily basis and 42% feel unappreciated by society.

Nurses surveyed say low pay (63%), feeling undervalued by NHS management (64%) and long hours (55%) are the biggest challenges they face.

Less than half (48%) of nurses said they would still choose the same job if they were starting out on their careers today.

Over half (52%) of those who would not join nursing now say it is because they are overworked, 49% say they feel undervalued by management and 46% feel unappreciated by the public.

But the vast majority (78%) of Brits surveyed in the East of England surveyed say they have been impressed by the NHS when using its services and 60% say they believe nurses are appreciated by society.

Adults in the East of England believe nurses’ biggest challenges are long hours (79%), low pay (67%), being undervalued by management (66%), patient resentment (31%) and lack of training (24%).

People believe that nurses’ working lives would be improved by pay rises (62%), better shift patterns (58%), free training (56%).

68% believe healthcare workers always do what they can to help and just over half (54%) believe they are passionate about their work.

Both healthcare professionals and the public say the NHS’ top 5 priorities should be employing more nurses and doctors, better pay, more hospital beds, upgrading equipment and investing in clinical research.

41% of people surveyed in the east of England said they would willingly pay more tax to swell the NHS’ coffers, with 22% saying they would pay up to 2% of their salary.

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