SNP ‘was warned of NHS staffing crisis 11 years ago’

THE SNP failed to stave off the NHS staffing crisis despite being warned of the problem more than a decade ago, MSPs have said.

Holyrood’s Health Committee has issued a damning letter to Health Secretary Shona Robison on the growing shortage of doctors and nurses.

It said similar concerns were raised 11 years ago – but there had been ‘little improvement’.

The committee has now delivered an ultimatum demanding Miss Robison’s ‘immediate steps’ to prevent an impact on patient care.

In 2005, an inquiry into NHS Scotland called for ‘more coherent planning’ and warned of a ‘real risk of insufficient staff’ in the future. The Health Committee revisited the issue this year to see if any progress had been made.

But MSPs heard from professional bodies warning that, rather than improving, workforce planning is ‘actually getting worse’.

This year’s inquiry heard from staff groups across the NHS who warned of high vacancy rates and worries about recruitment and training, including radiography, maternity care and social care along with doctors and nurses.

The letter from Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: ‘Eleven years since the previous Health Committee raised concerns there appears to have been little improvement.

‘Ensuring we have the right number of doctors, nurses and carers and other health professionals is not an exact science. However, we would have expected some positive progress. We are asking the Scottish Government what immediate steps it is taking to prevent this impacting on patient care.’

The letter says one of the ‘main barriers’ to recruiting and retaining staff is the lack of new graduates and recruits. It wonders if Government-controlled university courses – medicine, dentistry, nursing and midwifery – are taking on enough students.

Official figures showed that vacancy rates in the NHS are on the rise. The number of nursing and midwifery jobs lying empty for three months or more jumped by almost two-thirds in the last year to more than 800.

Last night, Miss Robison said a workforce planning document would be published this month. She added: ‘NHS staff numbers have risen to record highs.

‘We are also committed to preparing our NHS workforce for the future by increasing student nursing and midwifery intakes for the last four years. That’s helped to see almost 10,000 nurses and midwives in training in 2015.’