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New data on nurses and nursing students in Scotland underlines scale of workforce crisis
RCN Scotland has renewed its call for an urgent nursing retention strategy to attract new people to and keep more experienced nurses in the profession.
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A net increase of 2% in nurses on the NMC register in Scotland means there are now 70,395 registered nurses eligible to work here, but more than 2,700 nurses in Scotland left the register in 2023-24. That is 5.2% more than in the previous 12 months and 17.6% more than in 2019-20.
The NMC’s leavers’ survey found that around half of total respondents left the profession before they planned, often as much as five years earlier, and 13.9% of leavers in 2023-24 left within the first 10 years of qualifying, the highest proportion since 2018-19.
Retirement, poor health, burnout, and a change in personal circumstances were the top four reasons cited for leaving. But ‘lack of support from colleagues or senior members of staff’ and ‘experiences of bullying, harassment, or discrimination’ ranked higher in Scotland than for the rest of the UK.
The number of internationally-educated nurses and midwives joining the register in Scotland has also increased, with 408 international joiners in 2023-24, a jump of 76.6% from the previous 12 months. This includes a rise in first-time joiners from so-called ‘red list’ countries from which active recruitment is not permitted.
The UCAS figures [18 July] show another decrease in the number of applicants for nursing courses beginning in autumn this year, down 6% compared to the same point last year.
By the June deadline, 6,040 people had applied to study nursing in Scotland, compared to 6,450 at the same point last year. This is the lowest number of applicants over the last six years by this stage in the application cycle, including pre pandemic in 2019.
There is still time left in this year’s application cycle, but these figures are a worrying snapshot following the failure to fill places on nursing courses in Scotland for the last two years.
Commenting, Colin Poolman, RCN Scotland Director, said:
“The data published this week demonstrates the scale of Scotland’s nursing workforce crisis.
“Nursing remains a fantastic career but the UCAS figures suggest attracting potential applicants is getting harder and harder every year. For anyone considering nursing as a career, but who thinks they have missed the opportunity to apply this year, be reassured that universities across Scotland are still accepting applications. Just get in touch with your preferred university for further information.
“The NMC data shows that the Scottish government must do more to stem the flow of qualified nurses out of the profession. We can’t continue to lose experienced nurses sooner than they had originally planned to leave. This upward trend is unsustainable, poses a major threat to patient safety and undermines nurses’ efforts to provide high quality care.
“We urgently need to see a retention strategy. Without it, the Scottish government won’t be able to fill the stubbornly persistent gaps we have now in the nursing workforce, never mind attract those from the wider pool of nurses shown in the NMC data or to fill each new year’s training places. That lack of support and bullying and harassment are cited as reasons for leaving is a symptom of just how much pressure nursing staff continue to be under.
“It’s a desperate picture that these combined statistics paint. And it is more important than ever that the Ministerial Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce proposes the right actions to directly address the workforce challenges. The Scottish government must back the Taskforce up by finding the financial resources needed to deliver change and ensure nursing is positioned as a career of choice.”
