This is one of the main recommendations from RCN Scotland’s second annual ‘The Nursing Workforce in Scotland’ report, published today (Wednesday 3 May 2023). The new workforce report is published in the lead up to a roundtable of RCN members with Scotland’s politicians and senior nurse leaders, taking place today, focusing on valuing the nursing workforce.
In the report, RCN Scotland calls for a retention strategy that focuses on, amongst other things, career progression, flexible working and better support to enable more nursing students to complete their nursing course.
The report analyses trends in the nursing workforce statistics in health and care and makes 10 recommendations. Along with a retention strategy, the recommendations include:
• Scottish government must ensure the Ministerial Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce and Agenda for Change Review deliver sustainable, positive change for nursing.
• Full implementation of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act by April 2024
• Action to increase the number of registered nurses in community, social care and primary care.
The data trends are worrying and include:
• Planned nursing establishments have not been achieved in the past two years, in fact, increasing vacancies indicate that the gap between planned staffing and actual staffing is widening.
• The number of registered nurses leaving the NHS in Scotland increased to 4,238 in the year to March 2022, the highest number of registered nurse leavers in one year over the past 10 years.
• In care homes for older people 64% of services had nursing vacancies in December 2021 compared with 48% the previous year at a time when pressure on the system has never been higher.
• In 2022, 8% fewer applicants were accepted onto undergraduate nursing courses at Scottish universities compared to 2021. There were nearly 600 fewer nursing students starting university in autumn 2022 than the Scottish government’s recommended intake target of 4,536.
Julie Lamberth, RCN Scotland Board Chair, said:
“This report lays bare the full scale of the challenges facing the Scottish government and employers to solve the nursing workforce crisis. With the NHS vacancy rate running between 8-9% throughout 2022, with the number of nurses leaving the profession reaching the highest level for 10 years, and with ever more numbers of care homes reporting nursing vacancies, it’s no wonder that you, our members who make up the majority of the health and care workforce, are under severe pressure. As worrying is the decrease in the number of people applying to universities to study nursing. In addition, millions are being spent on temporary staff to try to fill the gaps.
“The future looks bleak if the Scottish government do not grasp with both hands the opportunity for improvement the Ministerial Taskforce and Agenda for Change review present. You deserve better and the Scottish government must bring forward sustainable domestic recruitment and retention planning that will turn the tide of persistent nursing shortages.”
Colin Poolman, RCN Scotland Director, said:
“In this report we have clearly set out the evidence that the Ministerial Taskforce and Agenda for Change review are essential and must not be kicked into the long grass. We’re calling on the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care and Scottish government to be focused fully on the task in hand. It’s only a year until the Safe Staffing Act comes into force and we still have near-record nursing vacancies. The clock is ticking for the Scottish government to find effective solutions to the nursing workforce crisis. We along with you, our members, are ready and willing to play our part and we will be working hard to hold the Scottish government to account in the coming months.”
