Health secretary’s ‘careless’ comments on pay will drive out nurses, warns Labour

‘Nurses are leaving in droves and all the Health Secretary can say is ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’’, says Wes Streeting

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)

Therese Coffey “is pouring petrol on the fire of the shortage of NHS nurses”, Labour warns, after the health secretary said nurses could choose to leave if they weren’t happy with their pay.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said Ms Coffey’s comments, in which she said nurses would not receive a further pay increase and the government had routes to recruit overseas nurses, risked driving out more nurses from the NHS.

Ms Coffey’s words come as the NHS faces unprecedented strike action this winter from nurses and hundreds of thousands of other healthcare workers. The Royal College of Nurses’ ballot on strike action is due to end on 2 November.

Speaking at an event hosted by the think tank Reform on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Streeting will say: “Just as the prime minister took a cost-of-living crisis and made it so much worse with her kamikaze budget, the health secretary is pouring petrol on the fire of the shortage of NHS nurses.

“Patients are waiting record lengths of time to be seen because 12 years of the Conservative government has left the NHS without the staff it needs. The Government are having to rely on increasing overseas recruitment because they can’t be bothered to train homegrown talent.

“Nurses are leaving in droves and all the health secretary can say is “don’t let the door hit you on the way out”.

“Labour’s message to nurses is very different: the cavalry is coming. We will train the nurses needed to treat patients on time as part of the biggest expansion of medical training in history.”

The most recent data shows 40,000 nurses left their posts in the past year, and earlier this year The Independent revealed internal NHS projections showing the government was set to miss its target to recruit 50,000 new nurses by 2023-24. This modelling included planned numbers for overseas recruitment.

Mr Streeting told The Independent: “It is a fundamentally good thing that the NHS has an international workforce. It brings diversity and different perspectives. But it isn’t right to deny young people in Britain the opportunity to become doctors and nurses while sapping talented professionals from countries which need them too.”

Labour has promised to expand medical training places by 7,500, create 10,000 new nursing and midwifery training places and double the number of district nurses qualifying each year from 700 to 1,400.

The party says this expansion will be paid for by abolishing the non-domiciliary tax status which would raise £3.2 billion.

A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said: “Nurses play a crucial role in delivering care for patients across the country, which the Health and Social Care Secretary recognises.

“The Secretary of State has never said that nurses should work abroad if they aren’t happy with their pay.”

The statement added the health secretary is committed to recruiting an additional 50,000 nurses and a pay rise of 3 per cent offered over the summer.