New nurses struggle to find jobs despite national shortage

Heather McWha, a final-year adult nursing student at the University of Bolton, said her already months-long search for full-time work as a registered nurse had been fruitless.

“We were told, ‘you’ll have a job for life’, not to worry about jobs”

Heather McWha

She said that the vast majority of band 5 posts in commutable distance from her home– from where she cannot move due to family commitments – had prerequisites such as post-registration experience, which a newly qualified nurse would not have.

“We found we were just getting instantly rejected,” she said.

“We spend hours on these applications… and there’s just no point. You don’t hear anything from them at all.”

Ms McWha said that, when a role appropriate for a newly registered nurse does come up, “all” of her cohort apply at once.

At the time of her interview with Nursing Times, Ms McWha said only “one in 30” of her peers had received a job offer for a registered nursing post.

Ms McWha claimed that some trusts in her area were going through a “recruitment freeze”, and that a job board newsletter her university cohort is signed up to include very few local vacancies.

“We were told, ‘you’ll have a job for life’, not to worry about jobs, that we don’t need to apply yet,” she continued.

“We asked if we should start applying in second year, because we could see jobs dwindling, and other cohorts struggling. But the uni said, ‘no, no, no, you’ll be fine, job for life’.

“I still get it said to me now.”

She said she had applied to 15 jobs this year so far, and that she would likely defer her nursing PIN and seek lower-paid work as a healthcare assistant (HCA) instead.

“It’s that or go on benefits,” she continued. “I’m on the bank already, most of us are, so we’re going to carry on with that and try and get some income because once our course finishes we have nothing.”

Ms McWha said she had heard similar concerns arising from students in other areas of the North West, and beyond.

Jess Sainsbury, co-chair of the Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF)’s early career subject expert group, said newly registered nurses being able to find an “appropriate role” was a “growing problem”.

“We have also heard that students are considering changing degrees due to uncertainty about whether they can find a job,” she said.

“This is especially concerning in the wake of the pandemic disruption to training and education, which has left so many of our newly registered nurses feeling devalued and unsupported.

“We know we have 18% attrition amongst our newly registered workforce, and we worry reports like these will only compound this problem.

“Health and care organisations must ensure their recruitment policies support newly registered nurses to take up vacancies and commit to investing in their development.”

Second year adult nursing student Karin Vertue, writing on X (formerly Twitter), echoed that some new nurses were turning to lower-paying jobs because of the difficulty in finding a post.

“The panic on student nurse groups at the moment about the lack of recruitment of NQNs nationally is increasing,” she said.

“It seems that [third] year degree nurses are working as HCAs, checkout workers, cleaners and [an] online career I won’t mention and the [largest group are] unemployed.”

A survey of more than 100 NHS trust, integrated care board (ICB) and primary care leaders, earlier this year, suggested that many health employers considering cutting clinical staff due to financial pressures.

More than two thirds (67%) of respondents to the survey, by the NHS Confederation, said they needed to reduce clinical staff to meet strict efficiency and productivity targets imposed by the UK Government.

Sarah Walter, director of the confederation’s Integrated Care Services Network, said reports of newly registered nurses struggling to find roles in their local area were “worrying”.

“They suggest that local NHS leaders are already making very difficult decisions over how to balance their books,” said Ms Walter.

“Health leaders told us they will have to cut or freeze posts to meet very ambitious efficiency targets, despite many services facing record demand and long waiting lists.

“The NHS needs more nurses if it is going to be able to meet the growing demand for care from an ageing population, the growing elective backlog, increased demand in emergency services and maintaining safe care.”

Ms Walter said this need was not going to be met by the current plans set out by the health service and incumbent government.

“It is vital that newly qualified nurses are able to find roles where they can use their skills for the benefit of patients,” she said.

“It is unsustainable to invest in training more nurses only for them to be unable to find jobs when they graduate.

“These financial pressures stem from a decade of underinvestment and lack of long-term workforce planning, which is why the next government must commit to fully delivering and funding the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, with an equivalent plan for social care as well.”