Nursing and midwifery vacancies increase by 24% in a year, statistics reveal

Nurses and midwives need “new hope” to attract them to Scotland’s NHS after new statistics revealed vacancies have increased by 24%.

Figures published by NHS Scotland showed the nursing workforce has risen to 6,010 in the year up to July 2022.

This is a rise of almost 1,200 as there were 4,845 vacancies from the same period in 2021.

Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has appealed to Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to improve the healthcare sector to attract workers.

The statistics also showed there were 1,127 total vacancies in the allied health professions sector, which includes physiotherapists, dieticians and speech and language therapists.

This is up 46.2% from the previous year.

Meanwhile, sickness absences across the NHS board reached its highest level in the year up to March 2022, with a 5.69% rate, compared to 4.67% in 2021 and 4.83% in 2023.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Nurses and midwives are feeling burned out and many are being pushed towards the exit.

“The last of support is taking its toll. For the past year, the Health Secretary has been insisting that the service will do even more, despite refusing to invest in proper workforce planning.

“Back in reality the service has gone backwards.

“Nurses and midwives need new hope. It’s time for urgent action to secure the workforce that the NHS needs to flourish. If Humza Yousaf can’t do that, we will need a new Health Secretary.”

However, employment figures across the NHS has risen by 11.7% over the last five years, taking the total workforce to more than 155,000.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “NHS Scotland staffing remains at historically high levels, up 2% on the same time last year.

“This comes as part of 10 consecutive years of increases in staffing across our NHS.

“As we move through different waves of Covid-19 it is inevitable staffing levels will reflect the range of additional activity that has taken place, such as for vaccination programmes, testing and contact tracing.”