The Royal College of Nursing in Scotland demands leadership, investment and effective workforce planning to stop unsafe care.
The Royal College of Nursing in Scotland has said that while the gap between planned staffing and actual staffing has reduced, at no point has NHS Scotland employed the number of nursing staff needed to deliver safe and effective care.
In social care, the gap is even widening as clinical need increases and the number of registered nurses working in care homes continues to decline.
“Demand for health and care services is far outstripping capacity in hospital, community and social care settings. The nursing workforce continues to be under intense pressure, reporting significant staff shortages and the effects of years of feeling undervalued. The increasing normalisation of unsafe care being delivered in inappropriate settings, often known as corridor care, is a symptom of this state of crisis,” it has said in a new report.
The nursing union says that although the Scottish government has committed to “protecting, strengthening and renewing our National Health Service” this cannot be achieved without leadership, investment and effective workforce planning.
Balance of care
“Delivering and supporting a sustainable nursing workforce will be key to delivering improvements and shifting the balance of care. Our report demonstrates the challenges that need to be overcome,” said Colin Poolman, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland.
The long-term trends highlighted in the report show that demand continues to outstrip supply. It highlights the recruitment and retention challenges that employers are facing, the impact this has on patient care and the need to improve the quality of data to inform sustainable workforce planning.
While the number of nursing staff employed by NHS Scotland has increased, so have levels of absence, and nurse agency and bank use remain at unsustainable levels.
The report makes a number of recommendations to protect and value the nursing contribution.
These include ensuring fair pay and good employment terms and conditions for nursing staff wherever they work, the introduction of safety-critical nurse-to-patient ratios in all care settings, increasing the student nurse bursary in line with living costs, and growing the community-based nursing workforce to reduce health inequalities and support the shift in the balance of care.
