Gray hails ‘important milestone’ for working conditions of nurses and midwives

Ministers have been warned “time and investment” will be needed to implement the recommendations of a report which looks at how to improve working conditions for Scotland’s nurses and midwives.

The report from a taskforce set up by the Scottish Government has made 44 recommendations for change.

These have already been accepted by Health Secretary Neil Gray, who hailed the report as an “important milestone”.

It comes after the Government established the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce in 2023, with the group set up to consider how to “make Scotland the best place for midwives and nurses to thrive at work”.

Its recommendations include ensuring there are “appropriate staffing levels” in place to allow nurses and midwives to take their statutory breaks, and a review of flexible working practices – with this coming after a listening project involving more than 4,000 nurses, midwives and others was told “work/life balance just isn’t there”.

To help with an “increased workload” that can lead to “burnout” and “compassion fatigue”, a review will seek to reduce paperwork and administration in a bid to allow staff to spend more time focused on patient care.

Anne Armstrong, Scotland’s interim Chief Nursing Officer, and Chief Midwifery Officer Justine Craig said implementing the recommendations will lead to a “happier, healthier and better equipped workforce”.

There were 51,572 nurses and 3,173 midwives employed by the health service in Scotland as of September 2024 – making up 41.7% of all NHS staff.

But the report also showed that in the year to March 2024, there was a 5.5% increase in the number of nurses leaving the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s register of staff, while it noted “trends over time” which show “more nurses and midwives are leaving their careers at an earlier point than previously”.

This, the report added, could create “potential gaps in the skill mix now and in the future”.

We are committed to ensuring they have the support, flexibility and workplace conditions to thrive

Work is to now begin on a detailed plan for implementation of the report – which will include timescales as well as financial details.

Colin Poolman, Scotland director of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said: “The recommendations should provide a strategic roadmap to begin to tackle the nursing retention and recruitment challenges in Scotland.

“Implementation of the recommendations will take time and investment, we look forward to playing a key role in the implementation board to ensure delivery and enable Scottish Government to meet its aspiration of making Scotland the best place for nurses and midwives to work.”

Mr Gray said the report is a “very honest assessment of what it’s like to be a nurse and a midwife”, setting out the “challenges” facing the profession.

Asked about a recommendation that nurses should always have breaks, the Health Secretary said: “We want to make sure we provide consistency and we make sure the elements of a nurse or midwife’s contract are being honoured.

“We recognise there are pressures in this job and there are pressures being faced across the health service and some people are going above and beyond, but we can’t expect them to be doing that all the time.

“That’s why we need to make sure we listen, as we have done to those 4,000 nurses and midwives who helped to contribute to the listening project, and we get it right for them.”

Mr Gray, who will chair the implementation board, hailed nursing and midwifery staff as being the “backbone of Scotland’s healthcare system” as he pledged: “We are committed to ensuring they have the support, flexibility and workplace conditions to thrive.”

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: “At the root of the dangerous crisis in our NHS is a workforce crisis created by the SNP.”

While she said the report is welcome, she added: “It must kick-start a genuine change in direction by the Scottish Government.

“Without a real plan for delivery, no report is worth the paper it’s written on and this SNP Government has a long history of failing to deliver.

“The SNP must work with nurses and midwives to act on these recommendations, deliver a real workforce plan, and properly support our fantastic NHS staff.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said NHS staff report being “dangerously understaffed” and that “every shift can be a pressure cooker”.

Accusing the Scottish Government of having “let staff down time and time again”, Mr Cole-Hamilton added: “I’m pleased to see frontline nurses and midwives have been consulted, but that needs to be turned into action.

“Ministers must set out a clear timeline for delivering these recommendations and properly supporting our hardworking NHS staff.”

Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane meanwhile said the report “lays bare the woefully inadequate NHS workforce planning of successive SNP health secretaries”.

The Tory MSP added: “We have known for years that there’s a huge shortfall in the number of nurses required to meet the demands on Scotland’s health service.

“This report must be the catalyst for that to change because many of the recommendations it makes can only be met if the shortage of nurses is addressed.”