THE NHS recorded close to 7,000 staff dismissals in 2024/25, the highest number since records began in 2011.
The total marks a rise from about 4,000 dismissals two years earlier. More than half of the cases were linked to capability, which under NHS rules applies when staff are unable to meet the basic requirements of their role. Other dismissals were due to misconduct and redundancy, reported GB News.
The increase comes amid a firmer stance on standards across the NHS workforce of about 1.5 million people. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said in November 2024 that there would be a “zero tolerance” approach to poor performance and “no more rewards for failure”. He has also said managers who fail to meet standards in new league tables could be dismissed.
The think tank Policy Exchange's head of health and social care, Gareth Lyon, told GB News: “People who can't or won't do their job should be sacked. The NHS needs to significantly up its game, and that will only happen with a more rigorous approach to performance management including firing people not up to the job.”
Workforce data shows 1.8 per cent of staff leaving the NHS in 2024/25 were dismissed, compared with about 1.2 per cent a decade earlier.
Ministers say this is the most reliable measure of performance-related terminations.
