NHS Scotland needs nearly 4,000 nurses as ‘demand continues to outstrip supply’
NHS Scotland is still short of nearly 4,000 nurses, top medics have warned, saying “demand continues to outstrip supply”.
A report released today by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Scotland has called for a plan to keep nurses in the health service.
“The Scottish Government must develop and implement a fully funded nursing retention strategy that addresses wellbeing, workplace culture, development opportunities, flexible working and career progression by April 2025,” one of the report’s ten recommendations said.
In the year up to December 2023, NHS Scotland figures showed the number of nurses rose from 61,567 wholetime equivalent (WTE) staff to 63,605. However, vacancies in the field have remained high, with 3,961.8 WTE posts still unfilled as of the end of last year.
Scotland, the RCN’S report found, also lagged behind the Organisation for economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 9.2 nurses per 1,000 of the population, with 7.9. The country was also well behind the figures for Finland, Norway and Ireland, which boasted 18.9,18.3 and 15.2 respectively.
RCN Scotland board chair Julie Lamberth said the situation was “not sustainable”.
“At no point hasnhsscotl and employed the number of nursing staff it says it needs to deliver safe care and the registered nurse to resident ratio in many care homes makes safe care impossible,” she said. “At the same time, with the squeeze on budgets, we are hearing reports of nursing roles being axed. the Scottish Government must get serious about the workforce crisis and the long-term implications for the public’s health. “Nursing vacancies are having a damaging impact on our members’ ability to provide safe and effective care. And on their own wellbeing, when shift after shift they work extra unpaid hours to cover gap sand go home feeling that they are unable to provide the quality of care they want.”
Colin Poolman, the director of RCN Scotland, said: “Nurses and nursing support workers across Scotland are under paid, under-staffed and many are at breaking point. The current service pressures, and staff shortages, have resulted in unsafe conditions being normalised.”
Among the other recommendations were calls for nurses to have “fair pay, good employment terms and safe working conditions”, as well as for the Government to implement a recent review to provide time for training and a shorter working week.
Scottish labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie, inset, said the report showed“sn pin competence has led to the workforce crisis in our NHS persisting”. She added: “Almost one in six Scots are on a waiting list, A&E is in chaos and waiting times are rising. that th es np has failed to act to support our NHS by bolstering the nursing workforce is simply unacceptable.”