Hundreds of newly qualified nurses and midwives have been unable to secure jobs in NHS Scotland, despite thousands of vacancies.

A petition with more than 1,700 signatures is calling on the Scottish government to employ more midwives and children’s nurses.

It says that not a single student paediatric nurse successfully found a job within NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde this year.

More than 100 student midwives completed their university training this year, but only around 20 are thought to have successfully found jobs.

They have been told funding issues in the NHS are the reason.

More than 3,102 nursing and midwifery vacancies continue to go unfilled, according to recent NHS Scotland workforce data.

Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie MSP told parliament that her office has been “inundated” with emails from distressed midwifery graduates and newly qualified children’s nurse graduates unable to secure jobs.

She told MSPs this afternoon: “Workforce planning needs to deliver safe staffing levels, yet hundreds of midwives and paediatric nurses are unemployed this year when we know there are serious staff shortages.

“At least £12m has been spent on their training but cuts and vacancy freezes means they don’t have jobs.

“Existing staff are burnt out and leaving, patient outcomes are worse, and the Scottish government is in breach of its own safe staffing legislation.”

 

Overworked and stretched to the limits

All newly qualified nurses and midwives are required to undertake the Flying Start NHS development programme in their first year of practice.

This often forms part of a larger ‘preceptorship’ programme, especially for midwives who need to undertake a period of structured support before they become an autonomous band 6 – the level at which most midwife roles within the NHS are advertised.

A shortage of these posts in Scotland appears to be a root cause of the job woes faced by new midwives.

More than a third of student midwives recently reported that they are so worried about their finances that they struggle to sleep at night, with more than 70% being forced to take on additional debt because of their studies.

The petition says Scottish universities continue to train more than 100 students a year, who are expected to work unpaid up to 40 hours a week in the NHS during training, to then be left with no job or income at the end.

Despite ‘ground-breaking’ safe staffing legislation coming into force in April, it says maternity and paediatric units continue to be left to work with ‘dangerously low staffing numbers’.

Earlier this year, a survey revealed midwives are working hundreds of unpaid extra hours to try and keep services running safely.

First Minister John Swinney yesterday committed to ensure more women receive care and support form the same midwife from pregnancy through birth.

He also promised to cut the working week for nurses and midwives a further 60 minutes to 36 hours.

In response to Dame Jackie, John Swinney told MSPs this afternoon that the government “hugely values the work of nurses and midwives”:

“We continue to support out health boards to ensure graduates can secure jobs in available roles within the national health service and we work with boards to ensure that we reinforce their commitment to maximising the opportunities for newly qualified nurses to find employment.”

Read more: Unpaid hours highlighting midwife shortage; “Difficult” budget cuts to health and care

 

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