HEALTH: Nursing and midwifery vacancies still far too high

By Bill Heaney

NHS Scotland workforce statistics showing that there are 3,102 nursing and midwifery vacancies as at the quarter ending June 2024, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said today.

He added: “Nursing and midwifery vacancies are still far too high. The roots of the problem lie in Nicola Sturgeon cutting training places and claiming that was ‘sensible.’

“Staff, such as the nurse pictures right, are beyond breaking point- they are utterly exhausted and many feel they have no other option but to leave the profession entirely.

“If we are to avoid another winter crisis in our NHS, ministers need to plug the huge gaps in the workforce.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats would completely overhaul the SNP’s failed NHS Recovery Plan to prioritise the recruitment and retention of staff.

Meanwhile,Public Health Scotland figures published today show that the number of planned operations far below pre-pandemic levels, with 14.5% fewer operations planned between August 2023-July 2024, than were planned in the 12 months prior to the pandemic and 8.4% of operations (1,998) cancelled on the day or the day before.

Public Health Scotland figures published today which show that the number of planned operations far below pre-pandemic levels, with 14.5% fewer operations planned between August 2023-July 2024, than were planned in the 12 months prior to the pandemic and 8.4% of operations (1,998) cancelled on the day or the day before.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, pictured left, said: “These statistics confirm that services are being overwhelmed, the backlogs are not shifting and patients are being left in pain waiting for essential operations.

“It’s troubling that almost 2,000 operations were cancelled the day before or on the day. Preparing for an operation is stressful and people arrange their lives around it so to have than yanked away last minute is desperately unfair.

“It is now more than three years since Humza Yousaf’s NHS Recovery Plan was published, with no real sign of any progress. If that doesn’t signal to Neil Gray that there needs to be a new plan, I don’t know what will. It is what patients and staff deserve.

“A new plan must prioritise the recruitment and retention of staff through a burnout prevention strategy and a staff and social care assembly to put their expert knowledge at the heart of rebuilding our NHS.”

Information on staff directly employed is sourced from each NHS Board’s human resources and payroll systems. These are dynamic, operational systems and data can change over time. Work is undertaken with NHS Boards to improve data quality and previously published information may change from one publication to the next to reflect these improvements.

“The SNP also need to reverse their opposition to a Burnout Prevention Strategy for staff, a plan which my party has consistently called for.”

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour has accused the SNP of overseeing “managed decline” as a series of damning new reports show the scale of the crisis engulfing NHS Scotland.

These reports reveal that long waits in A&E remain dangerously common, delayed discharge remains stubbornly high, rising numbers of operations are being cancelled and many services are still being affected by workforce vacancies.

In July 2024, A&E remained under immense pressure with just 69.6 per cent of people being seen and admitted, transferred or discharged within the target four hours.

A staggering 13,549 patients spent more than 8 hours in A&E and 5,759 were stranded for more than half a day.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimates that for every 72 patients that has to wait over eight hours there will be one excess death.

Delayed discharge continued to pile pressure on services in July, with levels soaring by 9 per cent compared to the previous year.

The number of operations being scheduled remained well below pre-pandemic levels, with 14.5 per cent fewer operations scheduled in the last 12 months compared to the 12 months before Covid.

In July the number of operations cancelled at a day’s notice was higher than the previous year and the number cancelled for non-clinical or capacity reasons was higher than both the previous month and the previous year, revealing the immense pressure on hospitals.

Workforce data from the quarter ending 30 June 2024 shows there are still over 3,000 nursing and midwifery vacancies and over 450 medical and dentistry consultant vacancies.

Scottish Labour Health spokesperson Jackie Baillie, left, said “Our NHS is on life support but the SNP seems to have given up on fixing this crisis.

“Long waits at A&E are putting lives at risk week after week, sky-high levels of delayed discharge are piling pressure on services and hospitals are being forced to cancel operations because they simply cannot cope.

“NHS staff are doing an incredible job keeping services going but they are being badly let down by this out-of-touch SNP government.

“With brutal cuts looming, there is a real risk that our overstretched NHS will pay the price for the SNP’s disastrous financial mismanagement. Scotland deserves better than the constant chaos and managed decline of the SNP.”