One in 14 consultant roles unfilled as jobs advertised up to 24 times

Almost one in every 14 consultant level NHS roles are currently unfilled, with health boards advertising positions up to 24 times without hiring anyone, new figures have revealed. obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats under the Freedom of Information Act found 381 out of 5,367 consultant roles at NHS health boards in Scotland are currently vacant – around 7 per cent.

More than a third of consultant roles are vacant in Orkney, Shetland and the

Western Isles. NHS Forth Valley has reported a longstanding general psychiatry vacancy unfilled since November 2014 that has been advertised six times. In Orkney, the figure is as high as 50 per cent.

A total of 102 vacancies have been unfilled for more than a year, while Dumfries and Galloway report elderly care consultant vacancies which have been advertised on 24 occasions without a single applicant and a diabetes consultant role advertised 23 times with only two applicants.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-hamildata ton said: “These figures show the stresses and strains that our NHS is operating under. This will be worrying for patients and mean extra work for existing staff.

"Staff are working around the clock, but they aren’t getting anywhere close to the support and resources they need. The workforce is being stretched more thinly than ever, while dealing with more and more challenging workloads.”

Mr Cole-hamilton said his party’s plan for NHS recovery included an annual workforce report that would be presented to Parliament for debate.