Over 1,000 UK doctors want to quit NHS over government’s handling of Covid-19
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Over 1,000 doctors plan to quit the NHS because they are disillusioned with the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and frustrated about their pay, a new survey published by The Guardian has found.
The doctors either intend to move abroad, take a career break, switch to private hospitals or resign to work as locums instead, amid growing concern about mental health and stress levels in the profession.
The Guardian reports that in all, 1,758 doctors across the UK responded when DAUK undertook an online survey among its members.
It asked: “Has the pandemic and the government’s treatment of frontline doctors during the pandemic impacted your decision to stay or leave the NHS?”. Almost seven in ten – 1,214 (69%) – said that it had made them more likely to leave the health service, while 26% said that it had not.
The findings has prompted renewed concern about NHS understaffing, as the service in England already has vacancies for 8,278 doctors, according to the most recent official figures.
Another doctor, from an EU country, said they planned to return home as a result of the fiasco over high taxes levied on NHS doctors’ pensions and “the xenophobia and at least weekly mockery of my accent (from consultant colleagues and other staff),” adding: “I’m absolutely certain I’m making the right decision but also sad to be leaving a system that, despite all, still provides such great care. But I’m done sacrificing my mental and physical health for it.”
