🚨 VA Job Offers Rejected as Staff Flee — Care Delays Grow

A new ProPublica investigation reveals that doctors and nurses are turning down VA jobs in record numbers as the Trump administration slashes staff and reshapes the agency’s direction (Full report).

📉 Key Findings:

• Nearly 4 in 10 doctors offered VA jobs between January–March turned them down — 4× last year’s rate.
• VA staffing is down 600+ doctors and ~1,900 nurses in 2025.
• Some facilities have lost twice as many nurses as they’ve hired this year.
• VA officials now say they will cut 30,000 jobs by September through attrition.

🏥 Impact on Veterans:

• Wait times for new patient specialty care are up nationwide.
• At Togus VA in Maine, primary care waits have tripled since last year.
• Shortages extend to support staff, delaying prosthetic orders and other services.
• Mental health hiring is lagging — rural patients are facing longer delays.

🛑 Why It Matters for Local 2328:

• Staffing losses hit all roles, from clinical staff to support workers.
• Lower morale and instability make recruitment and retention harder at Hampton VAMC.
• Cuts to hiring bonuses and retention incentives are driving skilled staff out the door — which AFGE warns is part of a privatization push.

Sen. Blumenthal: “Dedicated professionals are fleeing — and recruitment is flagging — because of toxic work conditions and draconian funding cuts.”

📎 Read the full ProPublica investigation

Doctors and Nurses Reject VA Jobs Under Trump — ProPublica

Amid concerns about the stability of the agency, records show nearly 40% of the doctors offered jobs at the VA from January through March of this year turned them down — quadruple the rate of rejections for the same period a year earlier.

www.propublica.org