Pay and stress forcing nurses to quit before 40th birthday

BRIAN DONNELLY

warning that nurses have put up with too much for too long. The stress on nursing staff is enormous. They are constantly being asked to do more with less, and that is having an impact on morale and people’s decisions about their career. Pay is a factor.

“Nursing staff have had a pay freeze since 2010, and are now around 14 per cent worse off in real terms.

“Staff have had enough of struggling to make ends meet, and some are leaving the profession to work elsewhere. For some time RCN has warned about the number of nurses nearing retirement age, particularly amongst those providing vital services in Scotland’s communities.

“Pension changes mean that nursing staff nearing retirement age are opting to leave early, and Scotland has fewer students applying to nursing courses.”

Mary Ross-Davie, of the Royal College of Midwives, said efforts must be made to make the job an attractive career choice but also an “attractive career to stay in”.

Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour health spokesman, said while First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was health secretary she had been “wrong to cut training places for nurses and midwives” and added that the “NHS continues to feel the effects of that short-sighted decision today”.

But Shona Robison, Health Secretary since November 2014, said: “Under this government, NHS staff numbers have risen to a record high level, including over 2,700 additional qualified nurses and midwives.

“Nursing and midwifery is by far the largest staff group in the NHS. There is a 4.7 per cent increase in trainee nurses and midwives this year – a fifth successive rise – and we have committed to deliver around 2,600 additional nursing and midwifery training places by the end of this parliament.

“Most of those who train in Scotland choose to stay and work here.” GUN specialist Theo Burrell poses with two antique pistols ahead of their sale by Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh tomorrow where they are expected to fetch around £25,000.

The pistols date back to 1790 and were made for renowned soldier General Sir David Baird from Haddington. He served in 73rd/71st Highlanders, and had this pair made by gunsmith Robert Wogdon in London before he headed back to