The Nursing Workforce in Scotland 2024

Scotland’s nursing workforce crisis shows little sign of improvement. Years of underinvestment and a lack of workforce planning is being compounded by poor population health, increasing clinical need and the fallout from the pandemic. This combination paints a desperate picture. On the pages of this report you will read direct quotes from our members that have been shared with us via our Sensemaker® Contents over the past year. These illustrate the desperation being felt.

The trends set out in our annual report demonstrate the extent of the challenges in delivering a sustainable nursing workforce. Urgent action is needed to support, develop and grow Scotland’s nursing workforce. The Scottish government and employers must do more to address the many issues around working environments, and pay, terms and conditions, to respect and value the expertise of the nursing profession. They need to take steps to retain and support existing nursing staff and encourage those early and middle career nurses who have left the profession to return and reintegrate into the workforce. Finally, to recruit and mentor new staff, nursing must be seen as an attractive and rewarding career with the resources available to allow nursing staff to flourish.