Question reference: S6W-23947
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 15 December 2023
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Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 January 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the (a) Royal College of Nursing report, The Nursing Workforce in Scotland: Review of Progress, (b) reported concern regarding high nursing vacancy rates across the NHS and social care and (c) most recent NHS statistics showing that 5,400 nursing and midwifery posts remain unfilled.
Answer
As set out in our Health and Social Care: National Workforce Strategy we are committed to taking all the appropriate steps to support staffing levels across our Health and Social Care settings.
Since October 2021 we have provided c. £18m funding to Health Boards to recruit 1,250 international nurses, midwives and AHPs by the end of this financial year with over 1,000 successfully recruited thus far.
However, we are not complacent, that is why we have convened the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce to co-produce tangible and realistic recommended action with its members, including the RCN, to address areas for improvement identified by the nursing and midwifery professions. The Taskforce’s Listening Project is now well underway to gather the views of staff to help shape those recommendations.