Scotland needs more nursing staff, finds new survey

Three quarters of the public surveyed in a new Royal College of Nursing poll recognised that Scotland needs more nursing staff.

With approximately 4,000 nursing and midwifery vacancies within the NHS and an estimated 20 per cent registered nurse vacancy level in the care homes sector, nurses and health care support workers are under immense pressure and the vast majority feel they do not have time to care for patients as they would wish.

The Scottish Government draft budget includes funding to grow the district nursing workforce, to support the implementation of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act and to support mental health services. The Scotpulse panel questioned listed recruiting more nurses as the top priority for Scottish Government spending on health and care.

With three-quarters voicing that there are too few nursing staff to provide safe and effective care to patients, many had concerns on the impact on care. Roughly two thirds of those polled highlighted that they would be concerned that, if they or a family member needed nursing care, that they would receive timely clinical care from staff with the right skills or experience.

Those polled considered the number of hours nursing staff work and the salary they receive as the main factors influencing nursing numbers and 60 per cent expressed the view that increasing salaries for nurses and healthcare support workers should be a Scottish Government priority.

Theresa Fyffe, director of RCN Scotland, said: “Nursing is consistently ranked as the most trusted profession and it is time Scotland’s political leaders recognised and valued the contribution of nursing staff in line with the general public. The additional funding for health and social care services outlined in the budget is welcome, however, given the scale of the challenges, we need to see a continued long-term focus to tackle the current staffing shortage and meet ever increasing need.

“Getting the implementation of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act right will provide a framework to address these workforce shortages and support staff at all levels to raise and respond to risks. However, it will only be successful if there is sufficient funding for health and care providers to meet their safe staffing duties under the Act in a sustainable way.”