Almost 5,000 nurses and midwives from EU27 countries have quit the NHS in the past two years, with many of those identifying Brexit as the trigger.

The number of EU-trained nurses and midwives working in the NHS across the UK fell from a record high of 38,024 in March 2017 to 33,035 in March this year, a drop of 4,989, according to figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which regulates both professions.

The 13% fall prompted renewed warnings that Britain’s decision to leave the EU was exacerbating the NHS’s growing staffing crisis.

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“The referendum result has made many EU nationals feel unwelcome. It’s no surprise nurses and midwives think they’ll be better off elsewhere,” said Sara Gorton, the head of health at the union Unison.

Gill Walton, the chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “Unfortunately over the last year just 33 midwives arrived from elsewhere in the EU to work as midwives here in the UK, and we used to count them in their hundreds. UK maternity services are already stretched and short-staffed, but Brexit threatens to make things even worse.”

When the NMC asked nurses and midwives why they had left its register, 51% of the EU-trained ones who replied said Brexit had encouraged them to consider leaving the UK.

Overall, though, the number of nurses, midwives and nursing associates has risen by 8,000 over the past year, the NMC’s figures show, because more of those health professionals who have been trained in the UK have joined the NMC’s register and fewer have left.

The headline total has also been boosted by a big rise in the number of nurses and midwives from outside the EU coming to work in the UK. It has leapt from 2,720 last year to 6,157, an increase of 3,437 (126%).

However, the regulator’s research found that more than 11,000 nurses and midwives left its register in a six-month period last year. Almost one in three of the 3,504 who explained their decision said that their jobs were too pressurised and, as a result, they were stressed, had poor mental health or both.

Dame Donna Kinnair, the chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Politicians should be alarmed that almost one in three [of those who] quit nursing [did so] because of intolerable pressure. They have abused the goodwill of nurses for too long and that dam is starting to burst.”

Saffron Cordery of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts in England, welcomed the rise in overall nurse numbers but, with the NHS in England alone short of more than 40,000, “we need to be realistic about the challenges we face,” she said.

The figures come after a leaked document obtained by the Times disclosed that NHS bosses hoped to recruit tens of thousands of nurses from around the world over the next five years to plug gaps in the NHS.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said: “Nursing is such a rewarding job. It’s excellent news to see more nurses and midwives are joining our brilliant NHS from at home and abroad and we value each and every one.”