Action call to avoid nursing staff shortage

Published on Wednesday 28 October 2009 09:07

ACTION must be taken to avoid a future shortage of nurses in the Lothians, a leading union has claimed.

The Edinburgh-based Royal College of Nurses (RCN) said the Scottish Government was planning to cut the budget to train registered nurses from next year.

And while health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said this was due to previous budgets being overestimated, the RCN warned intake of nursing students would drop.

Concerns have previously been raised about replacing the huge number of nurses due to retire.

The organisation's director, Theresa Fyffe said: "As the age profile of Scotland's nursing workforce grows older – with three out of ten community nurses reaching retirement age within the next ten years – and a net outflow of nurses leaving the UK to work abroad, this would be the wrong time to cut the number of registered nurses entering the NHS in Scotland.

"Health boards and the Scottish Government need to work together to ensure there are enough registered nurses and other nursing staff to deliver safe patient care in the future. Their decisions must be based on the clinical needs of patients rather than on short-term financial needs."