Scottish Conservatives propose funding an additional 1,000 extra nurses to cope with this pressure
Liz Smith, Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland & Fife has welcomed the move by NHS Tayside to introduce a daily monitoring of nursing levels at Perth Royal Infirmary.
There are currently a number of nursing post vacancies at Perth Royal Infirmary which has led to concerns being expressed regarding staffing levels. NHS Tayside are also to undertake a number of innovative solutions to try to recruit including promoting awareness and advertising through social media.
The Perthshire based MSP has called on the SNP Ministers to investigate the additional help which could be made available to NHS Tayside to help recruit and retain staff.
More than 350 nursing and midwifery jobs have been sitting empty in Scotland’s NHS for more than three months, latest figures have shown. The problem follows Scottish Government cuts to student nurse funding in 2012, and a predicted retirement boom from the country’s nursing workforce, more than a third of whom are over 50.
The statistics, from ISD Scotland, have revealed there were a total of 1,500 nursing and midwifery vacancies as of December 2013. And nearly a third of those have been lying empty for in excess of three months as Scotland’s hospital wards struggle to cope. Of the 352 posts vacant for three months of more, the majority are in adult nursing. Mental health nursing has 30 long-term vacancies.
The Scottish Conservatives have pledged to increase the nursing workforce by 1,000.
Liz Smith, Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland & Fife said:
“I welcome the steps which have been outlined by NHS Tayside to monitor nursing levels at Perth Royal Infirmary.
“For some time Scottish Conservatives have been warning the SNP Scottish Government that Health Boards such as Tayside, Grampian, Highland, Western Isles, and Orkney and Shetland have been finding is extremely difficult to recruit and retain staff and that serious consideration must be given to the how to address the recruitment and retention of key NHS workers and for the Government to be open to a new approach to address the staffing shortages being face by NHS Health Boards.
“The SNP Scottish Government has planned disastrously for the future on the nursing front. They cut the number of student nurses without even thinking about challenges coming down the track.
“The fact there are hundreds of vacancies lying unfilled for so long is a damning indictment on the way the SNP has run the NHS. We recognise the challenges which an ageing population will bring, and the reality of how overworked nurses currently are. That’s why Scottish Conservatives propose funding an additional 1,000 extra nurses to cope with this pressure.”
The Perthshire MSP has also called on SNP Ministers to investigate the additional help which could be made available to NHS Tayside to help recruit and retain staff.
Liz Smith MSP said:
“It is clear that many NHS Health Board serving communities across Scotland are facing difficulties in recruiting and retaining key NHS staff and I hope a positive solution can be found to address this problem.
“Serious consideration must be given to the how to address the recruitment and retention difficulties Health Boards are having and what positive steps can be taken to actively promote key NHS staff to move to the area.
“Perth Royal Infirmary is one of NHS Tayside’s greatest assets and one for the local community. The dedicated and professional staff who work at Perth Royal Infirmary deserve our support in providing a first class health service.”