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

Exclusive: Health leaders call for uplift for lowest-paid staff, to prevent mass exodus' to pubs and supermarkets

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.