Nursing shortage hits Lothian with almost 400 jobs unfilled

Published on Friday 17 July 2009 10:31

LOTHIAN has a higher rate of nursing vacancies than any other mainland health board.

Official figures have shown that there were 372 nursing and midwifery roles unfilled across the area last year, making up around 3.8 per cent of the workforce.

This was considerably higher than the national average of 2.3 per cent, and was surpassed only by tiny health boards in the Western Isles and Shetland.

In addition, in Lothian, around 6 per cent of the workforce is made up of agency and bank nurses.

Now, the national nurses union has called on local health chiefs to address the issue, saying in the long-run it costs more to fill the gaps with agency workers.

Assistant officer for the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland, Barbara Sweeney, said: "We are aware that there are recruitment issues in NHS Lothian, which has a higher vacancy rate than that across Scotland.

"This has obviously impacted on the number of bank and agency staff used in 2008-9. We would urge NHS Lothian to continue to put in place measures to recruit and invest in full-time staff."

The Evening News revealed earlier this month that spending on agency and bank nurses in the Lothians had risen by 1 million in the last year.

This was put down to an increase in patient numbers rather than a shortage of staff.

But nurses from the Western General have in the past complained about NHS bosses' reluctance to bring in temporary nurses to fill staff holidays and absences in order to save money, saying some wards last year were left dangerously under-staffed.

Tom Waterson, Unison's Lothian branch chairman, said: "It's of great concern that Lothian has one of the highest and I will be looking to speak to managers."

Libby Campbell, associate nurse director for NHS Lothian, said: "Services and programmes are continually being introduced, expanded and enhanced.

"As our workforce continues to grow, we actively recruit to vacancies as they arise and the vast majority of nursing and midwifery posts are vacant for less than three months."

Weblinks

www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

www.rcnscotland.org