HEALTH Secretary Shona Robison has launched a review into widening access into nursing and midwifery courses and jobs.
Chief nursing officer Professor Fiona McQueen commissioned the review, which will be led by University of the West of Scotland depute principal Professor Paul Martin.
Robison and McQueen formally launched the review at Edinburgh Napier University’s simulation and clinical skills centre yesterday, where they met current students.
The study will examine current barriers to entering the professions and find effective ways of encouraging people to take up the careers, making recommendations to widen access.
Latest figures show increasing numbers of nursing and midwifery staff but also rising vacancies. Nursing and midwifery staff in Scotland rose to the whole time equivalent (WTE) of 59,709.1 by the end of last year, an increase of 421.7 from December 2015.
At the same time, 4.1 per cent of nursing and midwifery posts were vacant – the equivalent of 2,525.5 full-time posts –compared to a vacancy rate of 3.6 per cent at the end of 2015.
By the end of December 2016, there were 736.5 WTE nursing and midwifery jobs that had been left with no-one in post for three months or more.
Robison said: “Nurses have a vital role to play in achieving our vision for health and social care in Scotland and are at the heart of our NHS. It is important that we continue to maximise the opportunities to pursue careers in nursing and midwifery.
“There is excellent work going on across Scotland to meet nursing and midwifery workforce demands through our evidence- based intake planning processes, commitment to high-quality higher education programmes and our continuing support for students. We want to build on that success.
“The Scottish Government remains committed to free tuition fees and protecting the non-means tested, non-repayable nursing and midwifery student bursary, which we believe is essential to ensure a steady supply of trainees into the profession. This commission aims to maximise that investment.”
McQueen said she was “delighted” Martin will lead the commission. Martin said “flexible access” to training for nursing and midwifery will help ensure the future workforce. The final report is expected later this year.
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Strike vote set as some nurses turn to food banks
NURSES’ leaders across the UK are asking them if they should take industrial action over pay, writes Janice Burns.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the largest nursing union, said a combination of pay freezes and caps on rises had resulted in an effective pay cut of 14 per cent since 2010. It is asking its 270,000 members if they want to strike before deciding if they will issue a formal ballot. The Scottish Government said it had applied pay increases recommended by the independent NHS Pay Review Body and had brought in measures to assist the lowest paid.
RCN director in Scotland Theresa Fyffe, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that some nurses had resorted to using food banks.
She said: “Nurses have had a 14 per cent pay cut since 2010 and we know that nurses are actually feeling tough times... They are going to use food banks in some cases, they are doing double jobs and we also know that nurses have actually applied to our RCN Foundation for hardship grants. We see that there’s been a 50 per cent rise since 2010 – that’s 700 nurses across the United Kingdom.
A Scottish Government spokesman said it had applied pay increases recommended by the NHS Pay Review Body, with additional measures to assist the lowest paid, but it was ready to discuss issues of concern.
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