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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Gregory Health editor

Thousands of NHS workers may quit for better-paid jobs, ministers warned

Patient being pushed in hospital bed
Ministers are being urged to pay the lowest-paid healthcare workers more, including porters, medical secretaries, security guards and healthcare assistants. Photograph: Nick Moore/Alamy

The NHS faces a “mass exodus” of thousands of staff to better-paid jobs in pubs, shops and supermarkets as a result of the cost of living crisis, ministers have been warned.

Health leaders fear significant numbers of lower-paid workers will leave for higher wages in the private sector amid rising food and heating bills and soaring inflation. The NHS already has 110,000 vacancies, and there are fears that a further deepening of the workforce crisis will “jeopardise” the ability of hospitals to tackle record-high waiting lists.

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