FROM BED TO WORSE
SARWAR IN VOW TO TACKLE STAFF CRISIS Labour blame Sturgeon cutbacks for major hike in nursing vacancies
The number of vacant nursing and midwifery posts in Scotland has soared to almost 3000, it’s been claimed.
Scottish NHS Trusts had 615.7 vacancies across the country in 2011.
But that number rocketed to 2789.2 empty jobs by last September.
The figures were revealed following analysis carried out by Scottish Labour.
Researchers also found that student intake fell from 3505 in 2010/11 to 2713 in 2012/13.
Labour yesterday highlighted First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to cut training posts when she was health secretary as a reason for the decline during that period.
The Royal College of Nursing warned at the time the cut “risks there not being enough professionally qualified nurses graduating to meet the demand for health services in the future”.
Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “When Nicola Sturgeon decided to slash training places for nurses and midwives, she claimed it was a sensible decision.
“Instead, that generation of students graduate to a health service that has seen the number of unfilled posts soar every year since.
“During that period, nu r s e s – along with the w ider public sector workforce – have faced a pay restraint policy which has forced staff out of the profession or into private agencies.
“Our hospitals simply don’t have enough staff – and that is a consequence of decisions made by Nicola Sturgeon when she was health secretary.
“Labour has established a Workforce Commission to develop a blueprint to fix the staffing crisis in our health ser v ice.” The Scot t ish GGovernment ssaid a 10.8 per ccent increase i n student nursing and midwifery intakes for 2018/19 was the sixth successive annual rise, and would provide 364 extra places taking the total to 3700.
They added: “Our commitment to supporting and sustaining the workforce also includes widening access to training, attracting back former registrants and, unlike England, we have retained bursaries and free tuition for nursing and midwifery students.
“We’re also committed to creating an estimated 2600 new training places over this parliament, recruiting and retaining the next generation of staff as well as enshrining safe staffing in law and placing our innovat ive nursi ng and midwifery workload tools on a statutory footing.” Royal College of Nursing Scotland associate director Norman Provan said: “In the last 12 months we have seen record levels of nursing and midwifery vacancies across the NHS in Scotland.
“The high vacancy rate is an indication that the Scottish Government and health boards have failed to future proof the workforce and are constantly relying on nurses working additional hours to cover shortages of staff. Without strategic long-term planning and ensuring nursing staff are paid fairly for the work they do, patients won’t get the care they need.
“We will be asking the Scottish Government to ensure their proposed bill on ‘safe and effective staffing in health and social care’ supports improved workforce planning and sa feguards patient s by guaranteeing the right staff in the right place at the right time.”