THE government was urged to axe “bullying” NHS reforms after a study found thousands of patients are dying due to high staff turnover.

Researchers warned a “conservative” estimate of more than 4,000 patients in England die every year due the loss of nurses and doctors in the health service.

The study from the University of Surrey and Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust was published in the prestigious British Medical Journal yesterday.

Lead researcher Dr Giuseppe Moscelli said the loss of life was driven by the care of emergency patients in particular.

The “two big problems” were that the NHS works at capacity — meaning that staff are overstretched when vacancies go unfilled and that agency replacements don’t get enough time to develop expertise within their teams.

He said: “Our findings underscore the vital role that stable staffing plays in ensuring patient safety.

“High turnover rates are not simply an administrative issue — they have real, life-or-death implications for patients.”

Last week Health Secretary Wes Streeting said failing hospitals would be named and shamed in league tables and NHS managers sacked if they cannot improve patient care and take control of finances.

Keep Our NHS Public co-chair Dr Tony O'Sullivan said the evidence showed government “must conclude that restoring staffing levels and pay justice will do more for patient safety than league tables, top-down managerial bullying, AI, targets and threats of reform without funding.”

Royal College of Nursing executive director Patricia Marquis said ministers needed to “take urgent action to keep highly skilled nurses in the profession.”

“Without safety-critical limits on the number of patients nursing staff are responsible for, patients will continue to be put in danger,” she added.

“Nurse-to-patient ratios must be enshrined in law or the cycle that fails everyone will only continue.”

Royal College of Physicians clinical vice-president Dr John Dean said healthcare professionals have long understood that a “stable, well-supported workforce is essential for patient safety.”

Unite national officer for health Richard Munn said restoring real-terms NHS pay to 2010 levels “would dramatically improve the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of NHS staff.”

GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said: “Poor pay and conditions are bad for staff, for the health service and — as this report shows — deadly for patients.”

Claire Goodwin-Fee, founder of Frontline19, an organisation that provides counselling for frontline NHS workers, said: “Any recovery plan for the NHS has to include help for the helpers.”

British Medical Association council chair Professor Phil Banfield said:  “It’s no secret that the NHS does not have enough doctors to meet our patients’ needs. Gaps in rotas are often filled by locum doctors who will not know the patient as well and may not be able to provide the continuity of care they wish to.

“The doctors we do have are increasingly saying they do not want to stay. Indeed, last year, more than 8,600 doctors asked for paperwork to enable them to find jobs overseas — the highest number in a decade.

“This lack of doctors creates a vicious cycle: shortages produce environments of chronic stress, which increases pressure on existing staff, and in turn encourages higher turnover and absence and all of which leaves patients lacking continuity of care.

“The recent money provided in the budget to the NHS must be used  to improve working conditions for doctors and retain them.”

UNISON head of health Helga Pile said: “Severe staff shortages mean overworked teams can’t keep up with soaring demand and lengthy waiting lists. Staff know only too well that, despite their best efforts, patients are being failed.

“For many, this is unbearable, but taking the difficult decision to leave only adds to the problem.

“These figures focus solely on doctors and nurses, but the dangerous consequences of understaffing affect every member of the NHS team. Without greater investment in the workforce, the health service can’t deliver the care patients need and deserve.”