We do not have enough doctors to effectively staff Scottish NHS – BMA chief

Scotland no longer has enough doctors to “effectively staff” the NHS, ministers have been warned, as figures showed vacancies for consultants have increased by 17% in a year.

With the latest figures showing more than 500 consultants posts vacant at the end of June, leaders of the British Medical Association (BMA) demanded an urgent meeting with Health Secretary Michael Matheson.

Dr Alan Robertson, chair of the BMA’s Scottish consultants committee, said the number of WTE (whole time equivalent) vacancies had risen by 100 in “just six months”, adding that the total was the highest it has been since the Covid pandemic.

He stated: “Simply put, we do not have enough doctors in Scotland to effectively staff our NHS and deliver all that is being asked of us.

“The situation we are currently in is simply unsustainable – there is nothing left to give.

“Action needs to be taken now to prevent this crisis from spiralling even further and I am seeking to finalise the details of an urgent meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for Health to discuss this.”

Dr Robertson spoke out after official data showed there were 15,194.4 WTE consultants employed by the NHS at the end of June 2023 – 16.9% higher than five years ago.

But the number of vacancies had also risen to stand at a “worryingly high” 513.4 WTE posts.

However, Dr Robertson warned that vacancies could be even higher, saying BMA Scotland research had indicated that “there are substantial numbers of vacancies not included in the official figures”!.

Dr Robertson stated: “As a result the real figure is likely to be much higher than this – in fact we believe it to be almost double.”

With medics having been “under an inordinate amount of stress and strain for many years”, Dr Robertson said that consultants had been left “tired, burnt out, and asking themselves if it is time to cut their losses”.

He added: “Today’s figures indicate more and more are doing that. Vacancy rates are not improving, and more specialties are simply becoming used to working with rota gaps which is not good for staff or patients.”

Insisting there is already a “a serious workforce retention crisis”, he warned that “this precarious position is only going to get substantially worse without urgent action from the Scottish Government for fixing pay, working conditions, and workload”.

The data showed overall NHS staffing levels had risen to stand at 156,215.9 WTE at the end of June – with this total 12.3% higher than five years before.

But Dr Robertson said: “We cannot hear again that NHS staffing levels are at a record high. Saying this to staff on the ground who are depleted, exhausted and burnt out is not just demoralising, but incredibly insulting.

“Staff are working flat out, doing absolutely everything they can to cope with rising demand that is spinning rapidly out of control.

“We are stretched to our very limit and staff shortages are affecting the ability of doctors to deliver the high-quality patient care we strive for.”

With 5,616.6 WTE vacancies for nursing and midwifery staff across the NHS, the Royal College of Nursing said there were “persistently high vacancy rates” which mean that “nursing staff can’t run fast enough to even stand still”.

Colin Poolman, the RCN Scotland director, said: “Every single nursing post that is vacant means the staff who remain have to pick up the slack. They also have to do their own job.

“The critical situation across Scotland’s acute hospitals will not be solved until the social care and community sectors have the right numbers of staff, with the right skills, in the right place.”

Overall, the figures showed 64,310.7 WTE staff working in nursing and midwifery at the end of June, with this down by 0.5% on the previous quarter.

However, the staffing total was up by 0.2% from the same time in 2022, and was 8.2% higher than five years ago.