To ask the Minister of Health to detail the number of (i) nurses; and (ii) midwifes that have retired or left the Health Service, in each of the last five years.

Information on the number of registered nurses and midwives leaving Health and Social Care (HSC) organisations in each of the last five years is provided in the table below. The information presented has been calculated by comparing snapshots of directly employed HSC staff in post at 31 March each year, for example those who appeared on the March 2019 dataset but not March 2020 were classed as leavers in 2019/20. Figures will include staff who have left HSC organisations due to retirement or for other reasons in a particular year, however not all leavers may be permanent as some may re-join HSC again at a later date. In addition these leavers from HSC organisations could be taking up employment in another part of the wider health & social care system e.g. general practice or nursing home care. Figures presented may exclude some short-term staff who were not captured on one or both datasets.

Registered Nursing & Midwifery Staff Leaving HSC organisations in each year

Source: Human Resources, Payroll, Travel & Subsistence (HRPTS) system