A leading health union is calling on the Scottish Government to tackle the current crisis in the nursing workforce ahead of the Budget later today.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) wants John Swinney to implement fair pay for staff across the health and social care sector and grow the domestic nursing workforce.
The interim finance secretary will deliver the Budget later today where he is expected to make a number of announcements around tax rises and spending cuts.
Earlier this week members of Unite and Unison voted to accept an improved pay offer from the government while members of the RCN, GMB and Chartered Society of Physiotherapy put strikes on hold while they vote on the deal.
In November, the government tabled an offer of 7.5 per cent which would see most NHS staff in Scotland get a rise of more than £2,200 per year.
Colin Poolman, director of RCN Scotland, called for more action to fix the vacancy crisis in the health service.
He said: "We’ve all seen the damning reports of how difficult things are in our health and care services – long delays, staff shortages, services at capacity.
"This is a daily reality for our members and those they're caring for. Last week, statistics showing continued high levels of vacancies and a fall in students being accepted onto nursing courses, underlined just how much pressure is on nursing staff.
"It’s clear that whatever the Scottish government’s plans are for the nursing workforce they're not working. All this is why our members gave us an overwhelming mandate for strike action. They have had enough and are prepared to make a stand for their patients and their profession."
The RCN has set out four priorities it wants the government to focus on in the Budget.
They include, implementing fair pay for nursing staff across health and social care, acknowledging and addressing the nursing staffing crisis in a sustainable way, growing the domestic nursing workforce and focusing on improving community health and social care services rather than structural reform.
Poolman added: "The people of Scotland deserve a health and care system that meets their needs and our health and care workforce deserve the resources and investment to be able to meet those needs.
"Today’s budget is an opportunity to look to the future, to prioritise our health and care services and to set out the investment needed to tackle the nursing workforce crisis. The Scottish Government must grasp this opportunity to support and retain our existing nursing staff and to set out how we can grow and develop our nursing workforce of the future.
"In the short term, it begins with an above-inflation pay increase for hard-pressed nursing staff not further pay cuts.
“In the longer term, there needs to be an open and honest discussion about the ongoing level of investment and new ways of working that will be required to meet the growing demands on our health and care services."
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: "We have seen the number of qualified nurses and midwives increase by 10.2% since 2007. The levels of staff in nursing and midwifery roles is 38% higher per head of population in Scotland than in England. We have also continued our long-term investment in healthcare education, funding a record number of medical & nursing student places.
"We have engaged extensively with trade union representatives over recent weeks, leaving no stone unturned to reach an offer which responds to the key concerns of staff across the service. This offer of over half a billion pounds underlines our commitment to supporting our fantastic NHS staff.
"We are making this offer at a time of extraordinary financial challenges to the Scottish Government to get money into the pockets of hard working staff and to avoid industrial action, in what is already going to be an incredibly challenging winter.
"Constructive engagement is crucial, and I would urge the UK Government to get back to the negotiating table with the unions as we have done in Scotland."
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