Why are we losing all our experienced nurses?

The UK National Health Service (NHS) may be facing a personnel crisis due to the large numbers of experienced nurses who have taken early retirement. Since the early 1990s, many health authorities and trusts have specifically targeted the over-50s for early retirement, while many other senior nurses were lost in the 1995 management cuts. This trend could have a serious long-term impact on the NHS, since many skills and experience are being lost, both in management and clinical skills, and a gap is emerging within the nursing workforce.