Concern as youngest NHS workers ‘increasingly unhappy’
Analysts said that the future of the health service depends on the service’s youngest staff.
The NHS’s ability to retain its Gen Z workers has been called into question after new analysis suggests they are “increasingly unhappy” at work.
Analysts said that the future of the health service depends on the service’s youngest staff, but concerns have been raised about job satisfaction among these workers.
A new report from the Nuffield Trust saw experts analyse 10 years of data from the NHS Staff Survey – the annual poll taken by health workers.
The report revealed how staff in the early years of their careers have become more stressed and unhappy over time, the think tank said.
The researchers found that between 2013 and 2023 stress levels in clinical staff aged 21 to 30 rose by 14 percentage points – with more than half (52%) in 2023 saying they were made unwell through work-related stress during the previous year, compared to 38% in 2013.
The number of NHS staff in England aged 21 to 30 who are unhappy with their pay rose from 10% to 22%.
This is compared to a smaller rise among older staff – from 11% in 2013 to 12% in 2023.
Some 15% of staff aged 21 to 30 said that they were not looking forward to their jobs in 2023, compared to 12% in 2013.
