NHS is sick

It beggars believe that the SNP administration continue to deny there is any recruitment crisis in NHS Scotland by confirming Scottish nurse numbers are at an all-time high; they miss the point completely.

The turnover of Scottish nurses is at an all-time high as they are hard-pressed working 12-hour shifts with intense nursing care and studying for degrees in their spare time, making nursing a very challenging career .

The fact of the matter is that we do need more nurses as there are many more hospital referrals these days as the population lives longer and needs more medical care and this, added to the chronic “bedblocking” problems, makes for chronic staffing problems.

This situation ensures that performance targets are not being met and makes for poor morale in the nursing ranks, forcing good, well-trained nurses to leave the NHS in complete frustration.

Unless the SNP administration wake up and tackle the nursing staff recruitment cri-

sis by increasing nurses’ salaries they will never resolve the current pressing problems in our Scottish NHS system. DENNIS FORBES GRATTAN

Mugiemoss Road Bucksburn, Aberdeen