Thailand nurse resignations up to 7,000 yearly due to low pay, heavy workload

[webfact]

 

A concerning trend has emerged in Thailand‘s state-run hospitals, with up to 7,000 nurses resigning each year due to heavy workloads and insufficient overtime pay. This is despite an annual influx of 10,000 new nursing graduates, according to the nurses’ union and Nurses Connect.

 

The alarming rate of Thailand’s nurse resignations has prompted calls for the government to implement more effective strategies to retain nurses within the country’s public healthcare system.

 

A representative of the nurses’ union and Nurses Connect, Suwimol Namkanisorn, revealed that the resignation rate for new nurses within their first year of employment has now reached a staggering 48.9%. “There is no need to increase the number of newly trained nurses, but having effective new measures to retain nurses in the state-run healthcare system is crucial,” she emphasised.

 

Namkanisorn also highlighted that nurses in Thailand are working an average of 80 hours per week, significantly more than the maximum of 60 hours a week stipulated by the Thailand Nursing and Midwifery Council. As Thailand nurse resignations increase, the workload for those remaining has become increasingly excessive, she said.

 

by Mitch Connor

 

Top Photo Courtesy of Flickr

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thai-state-hospitals-lose-7000-nurses-yearly-due-to-low-pay-excessive-hours-2

 

-- © Copyright Thaiger 2023-06-09

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

The most versatile and flexible rental investment and holiday home solution in Thailand - click for more information.

[Myran]

"Namkanisorn also highlighted that nurses in Thailand are working an average of 80 hours per week"

 

I sincerely doubt that.

[connda]

How many are shoved out of the door due to Thailand's embrace of age discrimination?

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, connda said:

How many are shoved out of the door due to Thailand's embrace of age discrimination?

I was also  wondering how many of the 48.9% resigned, to then move on to jobs in better conditions, with better salaries ie better hospitals, possibly in the private sector.

[proton]

deleted

Edited June 9, 2023 by proton

[Shop mak]

Low pay?????

Some screenshot from Tiktok, where many nurses review their life, salary, and debt.

Gov hospital 15-40k

Private hospital 40-55k+

 

Their problem are often huge debt, multiple credit card, expensive new car, and house 2-4 million. All borrowed money.

 

 

 

 

[Ralf001]

4 hours ago, Myran said:

"Namkanisorn also highlighted that nurses in Thailand are working an average of 80 hours per week"

 

I sincerely doubt that.

Prolly show up for 80... work 50% of that.

 

I spent first 3 months of the year in hospital, their workload aint excessive from my observations.... but this only 2 hospitals as a sample size.

[Lorry]

They do work incredibly long hours,  very often double shifts,  i.e. 16 hours. 

Financial situation as Shop said. Hard to find a nurse without a car.  Multiple credit cards,  of course. Houses more like 3-5m.

It's all a bit less in the public sector than in the private sector,  but perks a better in the public sector. 

[trainman34014]

My Wife was a Midwife for 25 years in State Hospitals and it was Slavery with Low Wages, many Double Shifts and even Treble !     Work, Eat and Sleep was her life as a Widow for nine years until i came along after 23 of those 25 years.  When i used to visit her work place i witnessed the lousy working conditions the Nurses had and the way they were talked down to by Doctors and especially 'Managers', the latter all running business's on the side and spending minimum time 'at work'.    The Admin' Staff had it best sitting around doing as little as possible whilst constantly sending out for Drinks and Food.    Dare a Nurse ask them to do something for them and they were all 'too busy'....doing nothing !

[hotchilli]

16 hours ago, webfact said:

A representative of the nurses’ union and Nurses Connect, Suwimol Namkanisorn, revealed that the resignation rate for new nurses within their first year of employment has now reached a staggering 48.9%. “There is no need to increase the number of newly trained nurses, but having effective new measures to retain nurses in the state-run healthcare system is crucial,” she emphasised.

Things must be bad.....

[Pedrogaz]

I have recently been to a public hospital where I saw nurses doing everything but nursing. Shockingly lazy and couldn't care less about the dying patients, lying in bed soaked in their own urine, while they sat around in the nurses room having a laugh. Honestly it was sickening......it is private hospital for me every time.

[TimeMachine]

If a Thai nurse applies for a job in Australia they will most likely succeed. Australians affluent enough now they don't have to work the difficult jobs. All nurses are from immigration. The pay in Australia is about sqrt 81 times the Thai salary give or take. Do unions exist in Thailand? Stop work meetings? Worker protections? I'm not sure.

[BTB1977]

Nurses are fun. Much better than bar girls. 

[billd766]

On 6/9/2023 at 1:50 PM, Myran said:

"Namkanisorn also highlighted that nurses in Thailand are working an average of 80 hours per week"

 

I sincerely doubt that.

As a regular attendee of state hospitals I certainly don't doubt those figures. 

 

If you visit any state hospital any working day you will find hundreds of patients, some of whom have been there since 5 am. You will also see the first line nurse, several in the registration office, several more allocating patients to doctors and perhaps 3 or 4 in the emergency room.

 

There are normally 2 or 3 per ward working a 12 on, 12 off shift 7 days a week, and that is about it.

 

In private hospitals, where the pay is higher and the hours shorter, you will find swarms of nurses. You will however pay a lot more in a private hospital than a state hospital for the same treatment and vastly more for the same drugs.

[bkk6060]

Cops, fire fighters, nurses and teachers are way under appreciated and under paid here.  Another reason why this place will never be a first world country.

[Lancelot01]

On 6/9/2023 at 8:04 AM, connda said:

How many are shoved out of the door due to Thailand's embrace of age discrimination?

From what I understand nurses are required to retire from government run hospitals at the age of 45. 

[elwood]

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

As a regular attendee of state hospitals I certainly don't doubt those figures. 

 

If you visit any state hospital any working day you will find hundreds of patients, some of whom have been there since 5 am. You will also see the first line nurse, several in the registration office, several more allocating patients to doctors and perhaps 3 or 4 in the emergency room.

 

There are normally 2 or 3 per ward working a 12 on, 12 off shift 7 days a week, and that is about it.

 

In private hospitals, where the pay is higher and the hours shorter, you will find swarms of nurses. You will however pay a lot more in a private hospital than a state hospital for the same treatment and vastly more for the same drugs.

Well said. It is the same at the state hospital I attend. Hard-working,  helpful to this old codger,  and friendly.

[Bill97]

On 6/9/2023 at 2:04 PM, connda said:

How many are shoved out of the door due to Thailand's embrace of age discrimination?

Article says 48.9% leave in their first year so they are not old.

[xtrnuno41]

OK, now i wonder when someone wakes up and start a working agency!

The time is right. Or not and the leftovers have to work triple shifts?

In "my"country, health caretakers are also not happy and there is a shortage.

The older ones are retiring and there is no new. The government made it almost impossible for them to do their work. Most of the time they are busy doing reports, reports, reports.

But wait, there are now AI robots, they can do the work! As if i would be happy to talk to a tin can, ahh too expensive, i mean plastic can. Yes we can

 

They resign from job at hospital, become independent workers through an agency or so and then get paid double. Contract for certain time and specified working hours and so on. And when time is up, according to contract, they walk away, otherwise hospital pay extra for overtime. And of course the agencies are also thriving, as they ask way more then they pay out.

But you also can be complete independent, again more for you.

 

With the first wave of corona, they were there in frontline. Now among them, there are with long covid. With many issues, sick of it. 2 years they get paid in welfare(70%) and then loose their job. Have to find out for them selves how to handle life further on low income. minimum wage.

Yeah, thank you very much government. 

[rattlesnake]

On 6/9/2023 at 1:19 PM, Shop mak said:

Low pay?????

Some screenshot from Tiktok, where many nurses review their life, salary, and debt.

Gov hospital 15-40k

Private hospital 40-55k+

 

Their problem are often huge debt, multiple credit card, expensive new car, and house 2-4 million. All borrowed money.

 

 

 

 

I've known nurses and the pay is 10-15k max. Those who boast triple that on TikTok are getting money by other means.

[mommysboy]

Junior nurses won't be at the high end of the pay scale.  Teachers are poorly paid too. But traditionally nursing is a second family income job.  It won't fund the kind of lifestyle some seem to want. ie. a 20k per month job can't fund a 100k a month lifestyle. 

 

Undoubtedly life is becoming more and more expensive, and the family dynamic in Thailand is such that as soon as one member starts to earn enough to get their head above water the others start holding their hands out.

Edited June 10, 2023 by mommysboy

[Lorry]

45 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

I've known nurses and the pay is 10-15k max. Those who boast triple that on TikTok are getting money by other means.

10-15k max is about minimum salary. 

550 B/day is the average what companies pay industrial workers. 

Nurses in Thailand do have a degree and a salary to match.

 

Your numbers were about right 20 years ago. 

 

[Chelseafan]

The alarming rate of Thailand’s nurse resignations has prompted calls for the government to implement more effective strategies to retain nurses within the country’s public healthcare system.

 

Well I might be Mr. Thicko but a starting strategy would be to pay them more

 

[heybruce]

According to some posters nurses are under-worked and overpaid, yet they are resigning in droves. 

 

Could it be that the anecdotal evidence presented by these posters doesn't accurately capture the big picture?

[Ralf001]

19 hours ago, TimeMachine said:

If a Thai nurse applies for a job in Australia they will most likely succeed. Australians affluent enough now they don't have to work the difficult jobs. All nurses are from immigration. The pay in Australia is about sqrt 81 times the Thai salary give or take. Do unions exist in Thailand? Stop work meetings? Worker protections? I'm not sure.

Average nurse salary in Thailand is Bt.23,000 a month according to google.

I doubt they will earn Bt.1,863,000 a month is Aus.

Or does sqrt mean square root and you actually mean 9 times which would be Bt.207,000 a month (Which is well above the average nurse salary in Aus) ?

 

 

[Chelseafan]

1 hour ago, heybruce said:

According to some posters nurses are under-worked and overpaid, yet they are resigning in droves. 

 

Could it be that the anecdotal evidence presented by these posters doesn't accurately capture the big picture?

 

Maybe the boredom sets in at work and they don't have time to spend the money

[TimeMachine]

4 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Average nurse salary in Thailand is Bt.23,000 a month according to google.

I doubt they will earn Bt.1,863,000 a month is Aus.

Or does sqrt mean square root and you actually mean 9 times which would be Bt.207,000 a month (Which is well above the average nurse salary in Aus) ?

 

 

Sorry. My sick jokey way of saying I don't know what the salary is exactly but it sure is better than a Thai salary

[trainman34014]

12 hours ago, heybruce said:

According to some posters nurses are under-worked and overpaid, yet they are resigning in droves. 

 

Could it be that the anecdotal evidence presented by these posters doesn't accurately capture the big picture?

If these posters had Wives or Girlfriends in the Industry they would know better !

[zzaa09]

On 6/10/2023 at 12:55 AM, billd766 said:

As a regular attendee of state hospitals I certainly don't doubt those figures. 

 

If you visit any state hospital any working day you will find hundreds of patients, some of whom have been there since 5 am. You will also see the first line nurse, several in the registration office, several more allocating patients to doctors and perhaps 3 or 4 in the emergency room.

 

There are normally 2 or 3 per ward working a 12 on, 12 off shift 7 days a week, and that is about it.

 

In private hospitals, where the pay is higher and the hours shorter, you will find swarms of nurses. You will however pay a lot more in a private hospital than a state hospital for the same treatment and vastly more for the same drugs.

I believe a lot of these unnecessary issues might be resolved if Thailand would simply nationalize their healthcare/medical systems across the board. Health care and well being towards the commons should be national budgetary priorities....