The key quote
Since 2010, ‘over 200,000 nurses have resigned’
Analysis
David Lammy’s claim appears to be a misreading of official figures — 200,000 is the figure for all nurses and health visitors who left the NHS in England between June 2010 and 2018.
This doesn’t cover just staff who resigned, it also includes nurses who retired, as well as those who died while in service or those with an unknown reason for leaving. Resignations were the most common reason for leaving, making up about half of those who left. However, this includes resignation because of relocation, “work-life balance” and promotion.
Despite the number of nurses leaving the NHS having grown since 2010, there are more listed because of new staff joining and staff being retrained, and the total number in England — 288,000 in July 2019 — is about 8,500 higher than in July 2010.
That doesn’t give us the full picture though, as numbers of mental health, community nurses and health visitors have all decreased during this time.
Verdict
Wrong. The number of nurses recorded as resigning in the time is about half that number.
Full Fact is the UK’s independent factchecking organisation. For sources and more factchecks go to fullfact.org
