Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) specialist nursing workforce to meet the IBD standards, in light of the finding in Crohn's & Colitis UK's research that almost a third of services in Scotland are not meeting safe staffing levels.
The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland; however, the statutory responsibility for delivering or commissioning services sits with local authorities, NHS boards and integrated health and social care partnerships. Operational decisions, including whether there is a need to increase the IBD specialist nursing workforce, are therefore matters for those public bodies.
The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 places duties on Health Boards to ensure that at all times suitably qualified and competent individuals are working in such numbers as are appropriate for the health, wellbeing and safety of patients, the provision of high-quality care and the wellbeing of staff.
If any IBD patient has concerns about their care, these should be taken forward with their local NHS board.