By Colin Poolman

LAST week Scotland played host to nursing staff and nursing students from across the UK as the Royal College of Nursing’s annual Congress – the largest event in the nursing calendar – took place in Glasgow.

Having been unable to hold Congress over the last two years there was much enthusiasm about meeting again in person but the exhaustion, pressure and impact of the past two years was visible, both on the faces of those attending and in the topics being discussed. The nursing workforce crisis was a consistent theme throughout the debates with specific discussions on safe staffing, overworking, overseas recruitment and compassion fatigue.

The return of Congress to Glasgow marked six years since the First Minister committed to introducing safe staffing legislation and three years since the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act became law. Our members welcomed the opportunity to meet with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Humza Yousaf during Congress and to raise with him directly the lack of progress on the legislation and the impact the ongoing service pressures are having on patient care, staff wellbeing, recruitment and retention.

While long overdue, the Cabinet Secretary’s commitment to publishing a timetable for implementation of the Act by the end of June, following pressure from the College, was seen as a step in the right direction. We are looking forward to seeing the detail of the implementation plans and to working with the Scottish Government and employers to ensure that this vital piece of legislation makes a real difference for patients, care home residents and nursing staff.

Last week also saw the publication of our most recent nursing survey results and the latest NHS workforce statistics. With 9.5 per cent of registered nurse posts within NHS Scotland unfilled, it is sadly not surprising that 86% of nursing staff reported that the staffing levels on their last shift were not sufficient to meet all the needs and dependency of their patients and nearly 70% said that patient care was compromised as a result. Yet again these figures highlight the scale of the persistent registered nurse and nursing support worker shortages across our NHS and social care services and why this legislation is needed.

However, our members were clear in their conversation with the Cabinet Secretary that the legislation alone will not solve this crisis. There is a continued need to focus on growing and retaining Scotland’s nursing workforce though an improved workplace culture and more opportunities to work flexibly, as well as increasing the support for those who wish to come and work in Scotland from overseas.

Underpinning all of this is the need for fair pay that truly values and reflects the safety-critical role that nursing staff perform 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in our hospitals and across our communities in health and social care. The Cabinet Secretary was left in no doubt about the strength of feeling from RCN members on pay and the role this has in ensuring Scotland has the nursing workforce it needs.

Colin Poolman is Director of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland