NHS faces 'timebomb' as young staff quit over stress complaints

The NHS faces a "ticking timebomb" when it comes to retaining young staff, nursing chiefs have warned, after analysis showed its gen Z workers are becoming more stressed and unhappy over time.

- Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent

A report by the Nuffield Trust shows soaring dissatisfaction among surveyed staff in the health service's youngest cohort, aged 21 to 30.

Researchers found that, between 2013 and 2023, stress levels in clinical staff aged 21 to 30 rose by 14 percentage points. In 2023, more than half (52%) said they had been made unwell through work-related stress in the previous year, compared with 38% in 2013. But the proportion of older NHS workers - aged between 51 and 65 - who had become ill for the same reason decreased across the same period, dropping from 43% to 40%.

The report also found the proportion of young NHS staff unhappy with their salary has doubled, from 10% in 2013 to 22% in 2023. But in older staff, there has been a smaller increase, from 11% in 2013 to 12% in 2023.