A ministerial taskforce set up to find ways to address Scotland's crisis in nursing and midwifery recruitment and retention meets for the first time today, with a warning from one of the key nursing organisations that ministers must listen to the voices of experience across the profession if it is to become a career of choice once again.

The establishment of  the Ministerial Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce in the Scottish government came as a direct response to a mandate for strike action from members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Scotland.

At the end of last year, over 8% of nursing and midwifery posts were unfilled in Scotland, including over 4,000 jobs for registered nurses.

The RCN says staff shortages are impacting both the safety and quality of care, as well as the wellbeing and morale of nurses and nursing support workers.

The taskforce, which will sit down with the new Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care, Michael Matheson MSP has been asked to make recommendations to address staff shortages and ensure a long-term sustainable workforce.

The Director of RCN Scotland, Colin Poolman says engaging with, and listening to, nursing and midwifery staff in both health and social care will be key to understanding the unique challenges they face:

“Scotland simply doesn’t have the registered nurses and nursing support workers it needs and patients and care home residents are suffering as a result. The Scottish government’s steps to address the workforce crisis haven’t delivered.

“We need to act now to stop more experienced nursing staff leaving the profession and to attract the workforce of the future.”

Mr Poolman added that capturing the perspectives of those training and with experience in nursing is vital to making the positive changes needed:

“The views and experiences of nursing staff, those studying nursing and those considering nursing as a career, will be essential in informing and shaping what is actually required to guarantee nursing becomes a career of choice once again. 

“The Cabinet Secretary must ensure the taskforce delivers funded, timely and meaningful actions to retain nursing staff, to address the unsustainable level of vacancies, to expand routes into nursing and ultimately to grow Scotland’s nursing workforce to ensure the profession can meet the health and care needs of the people of Scotland today and in the future.” 

Read more: Auditor General: Difficult choices for Scotland’s NHS; RCN calls for urgent investment in nursing; RCN: Staff need to see light at the end of the tunnel;

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