The NHS lost more than 20,000 doctors in 12 months - nearly twice the number needed to plug the shortage of medics.
And official figures show nearly 40,000 nurses also left despite 46,800 vacancies which need filling, 7,000 up on last year.
That compares with 27,000 nurses and midwives who walked away the year before, many quitting because the mammoth pressure they are under is forcing them to seek a better life elsewhere.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The NHS can’t afford to be losing so many staff while it is going through the biggest crisis in its history.
“Patients already find it impossible to get a GP appointment, operation, or an ambulance on time.
“This isn’t the fault of NHS staff. It’s the Conservatives who are to blame after 12 years of failing to train enough doctors and nurses. NHS staff are lions led by donkeys.”
Royal College of Nursing boss Pat Cullen said: “When nurses are leaving the NHS in such large numbers, those in power really need to sit up and pay attention.
“They boast about how many more nurses they are recruiting but fail to mention those going out the door. Low pay is pushing them out of the profession.”
There are now 10,582 vacancies for doctors, up 2,700 on the previous year. Dr Simon Opher, of Stroud, Glos knows the workload they are buckling under.
The GP standing as Stroud’s Labour candidate said: “The NHS is stretched to breaking point. This is putting huge pressure on frontline staff to the point it’s becoming almost unsafe.
“Doctors are burning out by the thousands with many retiring early or emigrating abroad. GP services are picking up the pieces of a decade of disastrous under investment.
“It’s the perfect storm. Fewer doctors, increased patient demand and an ageing population. The NHS is in intensive care and we are barely coping.”
And Dr Latifa Patel of the British Medical Association added: “With the largest ever backlog to contend with, many patients are not getting the timely care they need.
“And those staff who are working on the ground are coming under increasing and unsustainable pressure.”
The stats from NHS Digital show that between April 2021 to April this year 20,218 doctors lefts the NHS. Forty died in service but 4,557 either retired or quit.
Of these 380 doctors and 4,100 nurses wanted a better work life balance while nearly 9,000 doctors and 16,000 nurses gave no reason for leaving.
Sara Gorton of nursing union Unison said: “Desperate efforts to fill the gaps are undermined by the government’s failure to give healthcare staff a decent wage rise.
“That’s why hundreds of thousands are currently deciding whether to strike unless ministers do more to lift pay.”
A Health Department spokesperson said: “We have record numbers of staff working in the NHS, with 3,700 more doctors and over 9,100 more nurses.”
But Mr Streeting added: “I completely sympathise with those who are considering walking away. Many of them went through hell during the pandemic.
“Labour’s message to everyone working in the NHS today is: the cavalry is coming.
“The biggest expansion of the NHS workforce in history will be funded by abolishing the non-dom tax status.
“The NHS needs doctors and nurses more than the wealthy need a tax loophole. Labour will also fix the pensions issues that are forcing medics to retire early.”
The RCN is balloting its 300,000 members on strike action with the result due this week.
An RCN source said: “We expect large swathes of the country to have voted to strike.”
