NHS staffing in Scotland hits record high but agency use increases substantially
The number of staff working in the NHS has reached a record high, although the use of agency nurses and midwives has increased substantially for the third year running, according to new figures.
The latest statistics on the number of staff working in the health service show that at the end of March, there were 161,656 people employed by the NHS in Scotland, with 99.6% of all care delivered by staff on NHS contracts.
Overall, since September 2006, the NHS Scotland workforce, excluding GPs and dentists, has increased by 9%, with almost 11,400 more whole-time equivalent staff.
The use of agency nursing and midwifery staff increased substantially for the third consecutive year, providing cover equivalent to 276.7 whole-time equivalent staff in 2015/16, compared to 191 in 2014/15.
This represents an increase of 44.9%, with costs rising at a similar rate from £16 million to just under £23.5 million.
Meanwhile, the number of nursing and midwifery staff in post increased by 0.3% to 59,372.4 whole-time equivalent compared to March 2015 figures.
There were 2,207.3 whole-time equivalent vacant nursing and midwifery posts. This represents a vacancy rate of 3.6%, a slight increase from 3.3% at March 2015 and the same rate as December 2015.
Elsewhere, there were 5,115.6 full-time equivalent consultants in post at the end of March, an increase of 4% compared with March 2015.
There were also 355.4 vacant posts, representing a vacancy rate of 6.5%, down from 7.7% in March 2015 but up from 5.9% at the end of December 2015.
Of these vacancies, 166.1 were vacant for more than six months, an increase of 17.4 compared to March 2015.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “Under this government, NHS staff numbers have risen significantly, with more consultants, nurses and midwives and allied health professionals now delivering care for the people of Scotland.
“This demonstrates that, to give people the high quality healthcare they deserve, we are investing in and supporting a highly-skilled NHS Scotland workforce.
“In addition to having record staffing levels, Scotland is leading the UK in developing mandatory nursing and midwifery workload and workforce planning tools that help health boards to plan for the number of staff they require, ensuring the best possible care for patients.
“We know our NHS faces many pressures and is treating more patients, with more complex illnesses, than ever before.
“Despite these pressures, the fantastic staff working in the NHS continue to deliver high-quality care.”
Scottish Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “We have seen from the GP crisis and consultant vacancies rates that the SNP government has utterly botched workforce planning in our NHS, meaning our hospitals have to turn to expensive agency staff to deliver the care patients need.
“At a time when only a third of NHS staff feel there is enough of them to do their job properly, it will leave a sour taste in the mouth that so much is being spent on agency staff.
“The SNP government in Edinburgh needs to make sure that money is being spent responsibly in our NHS. Caring for patients shouldn’t be about lining shareholders’ pockets but that’s what this increase in agency staffing means.”
Also commenting on agency staff figures, Scottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said: “This is a clear indication that there are not enough staff to cover Scotland’s wards.
“Everyone accepts there will be time when cover needs to be called in, and that it comes at a price. But for millions of hours to be covered by non-permanent members of staff is quite incredible.
“It’s the Scottish Government’s responsibility to ensure the NHS is properly funded so it is properly staffed.
“But health boards being forced to shell out millions on emergency cover proves the SNP is not doing enough.”
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said the workforce statistics showed “nine years of SNP government has left our NHS short of hundreds of consultants, thousands of nurses and midwives, and spending millions every year on agency staff to cover staff shortfalls”.
He added: “There is hardly a branch of our NHS that has not been subject of concerns over long-term staffing shortages.
“In primary care, there are warnings we will be hundreds of GPs short by the end of this parliament unless we see action now.
“We have been told we face a recruitment time-bomb in midwifery and there is no evidence that ministers are getting to grips with these problems.”
Royal College of Nursing Scotland director Theresa Fyffe said: “While the number of nursing and midwifery staff in post increased slightly (0.3%) over the last year, the vacancy rate also went up over the same period by a similar figure (from 3.3% to 3.6% in 2015/16).
“This clearly shows that health boards continue to struggle to fill permanent nursing posts and are having to resort to expensive agency nurses to fill the gaps.
“This is not sustainable. While some investment in agency nursing will always be needed to cover unexpected events such as sickness absence and make sure there are enough nurses to provide safe care for patients, health boards cannot continue to ratchet up spending on agency nurses, which increased by £7.5 million in the last year. That’s an increase of almost 47% in one year.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2016, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Peter Byrne / PA Wire.
