Senior consultants say pay and pensions are a key factor in their plans to leave (Picture: PA)

The NHS is ‘in danger of complete collapse’ according to leading doctors deeply concerned that nearly half of senior medics plan to leave the NHS within 12 months.

The British Medical Association (BMA) warned the health service is ‘at breaking point’ and called for immediate Government action following its survey.

Some 44% of hospital consultants in England plan to leave, or take a break from working in the NHS, over the next year, according to the poll.

Among consultant surgeons, the figure rises to 50%.

There have been a series of dire warnings about the state of the health service in recent months, but this is perhaps among the most stark.

Experts say such a dramatic loss of the health service’s most senior staff would result in more staff burnout and badly hit patient care.

The survey of almost 8,000 consultants suggested pay and pension tax arrangements among the reasons for wanting to leave.

Health Secretary Therese Coffey was dubbed ‘clueless’ yesterday (Picture: PA)

But the findings follow huge strain being put on the health service since the Covid crisis kicked off in March 2020.

Nine in 10 consultants said this year’s pay rise of 4.5%, was ‘inadequate’ or ‘completely unacceptable’ amid the cost of living crisis.

Meanwhile, the Health Secretary Therese Coffey was dubbed ‘clueless’ yesterday morning over not knowing whether a smoking reduction plan had been scrapped and mocked for not being aware of numerous policies.

The BMA took aim at ‘punitive’ rules on pension taxation which it says has led to a tripling of doctors taking early retirement in the last 13 years.

The average retirement age now stands at 59.

The organisation’s consultants committee chair, Dr Vishal Sharma, said: ‘The NHS is already at breaking point and cannot afford to lose any of its staff, never mind facing the prospect of losing nearly half of its most senior doctors.

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‘Not only will this have a very significant adverse impact on patient care, this loss of doctors will simply result in increased pressure on those staff who remain in the workforce, further increasing the risk of burnout.

‘After years of demoralising real-terms pay cuts and chronic staffing shortages, the NHS and its staff are on their knees.

‘The Government must urgently demonstrate that it values the medical workforce by taking steps to restore doctors’ pay.’

Dr Sharma continued: ‘The goodwill of staff upon which the NHS depends has all but dried up. Without immediate action, the NHS is in danger of complete collapse.

‘Our hospitals are full with patients left in corridors for hours and sometimes even days; ambulances are frequently unable to attend to emergencies in the community as they are stuck waiting to offload patients to emergency departments that are unable to take them; patients are waiting months and even years to access the treatment that they need with many more suffering in silence that haven’t yet made it on to a waiting list.

‘This is not the NHS that our patients deserve or that our staff signed up to work in.

‘The NHS is at breaking point and unless the Government acts it will collapse completely.

‘We urge the Government to come to the table and talk to consultants about the changes that are needed before it is too late to stop the drain of doctors from the NHS.’

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘The Health and Social Care Secretary is focused on delivering for patients and has set out her four priorities of A, B, C, D – reducing ambulance delays, busting the Covid backlogs, improving care and increasing the number of doctors and dentists.

‘In the past year we have seen record numbers of hospital doctors working in the NHS and there are over 3,500 more full-time equivalent staff than a year ago.’

They added: ‘The NHS pension scheme provides generous retirement benefits for hardworking staff and Our Plan for Patients sets out new pension flexibilities to encourage our most experienced clinicians to stay or return to practice.’

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It is the latest dire warning about the state of the health service.