NHS pressures unsustainable as nurses hit '˜breaking point'

A report has found the pressure on health services is not sustainable over the festive period as nurses warn they are at breaking-point over low pay.

Health Secretary Shona Robison has now unveiled an extra £8.4 million of funding to help winter resilience after concerns were raised by Sir Lewis Ritchie in his report into health and social care over the holiday period.

But political opponents branded the latest revelations a “damning indictment” of the SNP’s record in running the NHS over the past decade.

A poll carried out by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) found that 61 per cent of nurses questioned in Scotland said they were too busy at work to provide patients with the level of care they would like.

Nearly 800 nurses in Scotland took part in the research, with 74 per cent of those reporting feeling financially worse off than they did five years ago.

As well as the 40 per cent who said money worries were causing them to lose sleep, 36 per cent said they were looking for a new job.

The RCN published the figures ahead of this week’s Scottish Budget to highlight the impact the “prolonged” public sector pay freeze has had on morale in the profession.

The Scottish Government has pledged to end the freeze, but with the UK inflation rate at 3 per cent it is not certain if Finance Secretary Derek Mackay will be able to give public sector staff a real terms pay rise.

But RCN Scotland director Theresa Fyffe said: “The survey’s findings should fire a warning shot across the bows for the Scottish Government. Our nursing workforce is at breaking point.

“The Scottish Government has the opportunity to ensure nursing staff receive the pay they deserve and to address the workload challenges with its proposed safe staffing legislation, safeguarding nursing in Scotland for generations to come.”

Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs branded the results of the survey as “alarming”, adding they “expose the challenges faced by hard-working NHS staff”.

The Tory MSP hit out, saying: “The SNP is in sole charge of health and has been for more than a decade. It can’t blame anyone else for this situation and should set out how it’s going to make life better for Scotland’s over-stretched nurses.”

Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar added: “This survey is utterly damning and confirms what Labour has been saying for some time – Scotland’s nurses are underpaid and undervalued under the SNP.”

The report by Sir Lewis warned that health and social care services were facing a stark situation over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

It made more than 20 recommendations, including more promotion of pharmacies as a source of advice and medicines, more senior staff and proactive discharge planning in advance of public holidays.

The report said: “Available and accessible urgent care services over public holidays are under pressure, particularly over the Christmas and Easter festive periods.

“This is not sustainable and will worsen unless robust measures are taken to promote enhanced, collaborative working practices within and across the health and social care sectors.

“Future service design and delivery should be based on best meeting the needs of the public and those who deliver services.

“This should enable tailored advice, support and self care where appropriate, and when required, direction to the right service, at the right time.”

Among recommendations is the creation of local clinics for the holidays, bringing together GPs, nurses, pharmacists and paramedics who could assess, treat and prescribe for medical and social conditions and provide “community-based interventions to maintain optimal care at home”.

The Scottish Government said the report’s findings have been shared across the NHS and are being incorporated into winter planning.

NHS boards are to receive £8.4m for resilience this winter.

Ms Robison said: “This additional funding, a record level for any one year, will help the provision of services throughout Christmas and New Year.

“We expect challenges over winter and NHS boards are coping well with the demands placed on them so far.

“Thousands of NHS, social care, independent and third sector staff work extremely hard on public holidays and throughout the year, providing a lifeline of care and support to patients across Scotland.”