To think that the NHS recruitment crisis is going to be even worse when this is all over.

[TravellingSpoon]

Staff who feel they have been screwed over will leave.

People who thought about training will have second thoughts about how PHE have treated current staff

Nurses from other countries will not be coming to England due to the new rules about pay.

[Iamthewombat]

No, quite the opposite. I think that more people will want to train as clinicians after this.

[Bagelsandbrie]

I agree with you op.

I don’t know anyone from my daughters generation who want to go into healthcare. I think this will scarily be the final nail in the coffin. They’ll have to run huge financial incentives - bigger than they do now- to encourage people to do it.

[Maxandezra]

I'm considering leaving, and I have worked for the NHS for over 20 years.

[CoughKeepsOnComing]

I think it won't be much different. Yes, we will.lose some existing staff and some will be put off. However, hopefully now the government and public will appreciate health Care staff more, so it will be seen as a more respected job. I also expect that pay rises will follow this pandemic for NHS workers (if not, their will be riots) - which again, will be appealing to many. I also wouldn't be surprised if grants/nurseries for nurses are reinstated. I also think that since Borris has been touched personally by the NHS now, he will put protecting it higher up his priority list

[Dyrne]

I think there will actually be a surge, too.

I think in the coming recession/depression there will be a combination of people being unwilling to go back to self employment or other unstable job prospects, and will look to getting into what is now perceived as “guaranteed income”.

There will be others that will take stock of their own lives and really think about how their current job directly contributes to society; and realise they want to switch to a job that achieves this for their own feelings of self worth. (I pretty much fell into this category before CV tbh, and this situation has only increased my desire to retrain)

Of course there will be people who either are happy to take the risk of staying in a “non guaranteed job” or restarting their business; and others whose sense of self worth isn’t tied to their jobs (probably more healthy! ); and people who don’t want to deal with shift work etc; but I think the first two groups of people will stop there from being a recruitment drop.

[Redpurplegreen]

I’m not sure but I know that if NHS staff don’t get decent pay rises after this then many will be leaving.

[jasjas1973]

Public seeing staff dying, not enough PPE, 1st and 2nd year students unable to finish their courses in the way they should be as no placements available and Universities shut down.

Then there is the pay..... 3 years of study, 50k of debt for 24k p.a.

Less overseas staff as other countries keep hold of their healthcare staff following this crisis.

[Dyrne]

There definitely won’t be any pay rises.

The government have already set that up with the #clapforcarers movement.

The NHS are angels who do this because they are all such decent people. They don’t do this for the pay, they do it out of the goodness of their hearts. And, of course, given that we are entering a recession, such good, kind people will understand that much as we’d love to give a payrise, for the good of the country, we are unable to. But we will continue to thank them profusely for their amazing efforts. In fact, let’s keep every Thursday as #clapforcarers!

[Iamthewombat]

I also expect that pay rises will follow this pandemic for NHS workers (if not, their will be riots)

Do you genuinely expect either of those outcomes?

Then there is the pay.....3 years of study, 50k of debt for 24k p.a.

And yet people still do nursing degrees. I don’t think that the investment appraisal decision people make over whether degrees are worth paying for will change as a consequence of this pandemic.

[justanotherneighinparadise]

I think they’ll be a surge too. In a recession public sector jobs are the safest. Having lived through the last recession I remember a huge surge in people changing career to become teachers.

[CocoCorona]

No way. I think there’ll be a massive surge. Children will be motivated with “your nhs needs you” type propaganda and there’ll be loads of initiatives for school leavers to join apprenticeships. I think this may make British children want to become HCPs.

[keepingbees]

I always wanted to go into nursing/midwifery. This situation has made me feel it even more so. However apart from gcse grades I fulfil none of the criteria to even get considered for a uni place. Maybe they will review the criteria and training process if they end up with recruitment issues.

[Laniakea]

People will be utterly desperate for work & as things stand the NHS looks like it will be the only employer left! I think they will be fine. It’ll be the last thing standing in the UK.

In fact we could have some weird pseudo-communist situation where everyone is obliged to do their bit to ‘save the NHS’ by being forced to ‘volunteer’ in return for benefits or UBI ... I’ve seen loads of lefties suggest that would be the perfect solution. How marvellous!

[ukgift2016]

I disagree. There will be a surge. Staff at the NHS are seen as the nation heroes. Sad they can't get a pay rise.

[SellFridges]

I was vaguely thinking about a career change yesterday. I am not at all inclined to train in a medical field, but I am experienced in my field and could perhaps make much more of a difference in the NHS.

[Dyrne]

3 years of study, 50k of debt for 24k p.a.

Ha! I graduated during the last recession - I had £40K of debt and could only manage to find a job on £16K. This was a professional job, related to my degree. I’d have LOVED to have started straight out on £24K!

[jasjas1973]

Don't recall too many people wanting to become nurses etc during any previous recession?

A recession by its very nature, means less tax take, less to spend on public services, more debt to service.... so in previous ones, we have recruitment and pay freezes, reductions in training places.... this isn't going to change.

[WarmFunKindStrong]

I agree with the OP. This generation won't accept the reality of working in the NHS for the low wages - heroes or not.

[Dyrne]

WarmFunKindStrong but what are the other options going to be? The economy’s fucked, shops and businesses are closing left, right and centre.

In the last 5 years or so, people have been able to experiment and take risks with work; and graduates have a lot higher expectation of what their workplace should be offering them. In 2008 I was just grateful to get a job vaguely related to my degree. £24K and a pretty much guaranteed job will start to look very tempting.

[TJH130]

There will most likely be a huge cut in the number of NHS staff and funding after this (and to all public services etc) and the Government will go back to austerity measures once again, but much worse than last time. I can even see the selling off of the NHS speeding up, to make sure they dont get stuck in this situation again and it being their problem.

[BBCONEANDTWO]

I think there will be an upsurge - look at all the volunteers who have signed up to help out.

Also in comparison to the care sector the money is a lot better and there is more guarantee that you won't be made redundant or have to pay your own petrol to go and see patients.