NHS nurse vacancies leapt by 21 per cent in the last year as thousands more quit, worsening the service’s crisis.

New NHS data shows the number of nursing vacancies reached 46,828 — up from 38,814 in April-June 2021.

The announcement came as the biggest nursing union, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), prepares to ballot its members on strike action over pay.

RCN general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said: “Two weeks before we open our strike ballot, these stark figures reveal what is happening in England’s NHS — record numbers of unfilled nurse jobs and rising fast too.

“Ten of thousands of experienced nurses left last year at the very moment we cannot afford to lose a single professional, and patients pay a heavy price.

“Nursing staff are burnt out and simply not valued by their employers and government. Ministers choosing to hold their pay well below inflation in a cost-of-living crisis is making more reconsider their future. Rather than leave a fantastic profession, I am telling members that the time has come to vote for strike action this year — it is the best way to now get politicians to listen and show what we mean when we say ‘enough is enough’.”

She said the new prime minister must “act fast” to increase nurses’ pay and address the “all-engulfing NHS crisis.”

The government’s piecemeal destruction of the NHS has left six million patients waiting for treatment and hundreds of patients left for hours in ambulances and hospital corridors.

The new NHS figures reveal that there were 132,139 vacancies, the highest since the previous peak of 111,864 at the end of June, 2019.