Top doctors set to abandon the NHS

1 in 5 consultants is nearing retirement while vacancies go unfilled nationwide

HOSPITALS are bracing for a fresh staffing crisis as hundreds of Scots consultants prepare to retire – with one in five now 55 or older.

Health chiefs are already struggling to fill vacancies across the country as medics struggle with soaring workloads.

There are also fears Scotland’s ageing population will heap even more pressure on the NHS.

Now it has emerged that more than 1,200 of the country’s most senior doctors are approaching retirement age – a fifth of all consultants working in the country.

Last night, Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘We’re going to have even more serious staffing issues in hospitals if the SNP Government doesn’t take urgent action.

‘The consultant workforce is ageing at a considerable rate. In just a few years the number of consultants who will be considering retirement has risen, and accounts for more than a fifth of that workforce.

‘It is another indictment of the SNP’s shambolic workforce planning, and patients and those workers left over will be the ones who suffer.’

Of Scotland’s 5,786 consultants – employed in areas such as oncology and haematology – 1,234 are aged 55 or older.

This is equivalent to 21 per cent of the total – more than one in five.

Of this 1,234 total, 809 are between the ages of 55 and 59, another 313 are between 60 and 64, and 112 are 65 or older, according to figures released by NHS Scotland after a freedom of information request.

Medics have already warned that a lack of specialists has led to services such as radiology reaching ‘crisis point’.

Last year the British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland said one in seven consultancy posts was vacant, with more than 400 jobs unfilled at the end of 2018.

The union accused the Scottish Government of failing to recognise the scale of the staffing shortage – despite fears it could affect the treatment of hundreds of patients with life-threatening conditions such as cancer.

Some health boards have shared their desperation to fill vital diagnostic and treatment positions, with bosses urging locals to help fill posts by ‘spreading the word’ to their families and friends.

NHS Highland has been campaigning heavily to entice senior medics to the region after failing to fill three surgical vacancies following more than 12 months of trying.

Simon Barker, chairman of BMA Scotland’s consultant committee, said: ‘There are not enough doctors working in our NHS to deliver the quality care we are all striving for.

‘It is crucial that everything possible is done to ensure becoming a doctor and remaining one in Scotland is attractive and sustainable.

‘That means improving work-life balance and ensuring doctors feel genuinely valued, and can do their jobs in properly staffed services.

‘It also means reversing years of real terms pay decline. Without that, there isn’t the incentive to retain doctors.’

The consultant crisis comes amid a similar emergency facing GP services – more than a third of GPs are planning to retire within five years.

Some 500 left the profession between 2007 and last year.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Consultant staffing numbers are at a record level, up by over 50 per cent under this Government. More than 60 per cent of consultant staff are under 50.

‘The Government has been working with the Royal College of Surgeons and others to create a locum medical bank, using a pool of retired consultant staff who have expressed an interest in working in remote and rural areas.

‘Through this service, retired consultant staff can continue to provide valuable services.’

Comment – Page 14

‘Patients will be ones who suffer’