Staff shortages threaten children’s health services

Leading doctors in Scotland have warned that workforce shortages are putting children’s health services in jeopardy, and are calling for action to improve recruitment and retention.

A report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) says than over one in four Scottish paediatric inpatient units, and more than 40 per cent of neonatal units, closed their doors to new admissions in the last year.

The college says that workforce pressures are to be held responsible, and is calling on the Scottish government to recruit more doctors.

The college wants the government to increase the number of training post to help fill significant gaps in staff rotas and create a pipeline of future consultants.

The Scottish government said NHS staffing was at record levels and that the paediatric training establishment had increased by eight per cent since 2014.

Steve Turner, the RCPCH officer for Scotland, said: “Time and again we see rota gaps in paediatric services causing significant strain on the system and these figures show that staffing shortages are leading to service closures all too often. This can only be resolved by increasing the numbers coming into paediatrics.

“The number of consultants is increasing in Scotland and between 2013 and 2015 we saw the paediatric consultant workforce grow by more than 13 per cent. The target for consultants in Scotland though is for a further 27-35 per cent so there’s obviously still a long way to go.”

Simon Barker, BMA Scottish consultant committee chair, said: “While overall the medical workforce is increasing, the number of doctors working in Scotland is not growing at a fast enough rate to keep up with escalating demand on the health service.

“The most recent figures showed that over 400 consultant posts in Scotland were unfilled, half of which have been empty for more than six months. And those gaps in the consultant workforce are only the posts needed to meet levels of demand now, let alone future need.

“Every unfilled post puts enormous strain on remaining staff, who are stretched further and further as they try to cover for vacant positions.

“That is unsustainable and directly contributes to services deteriorating, such as the closures to new admissions highlighted by the RCPCH, or poorer performance against waiting time targets.”