Sturgeon's successor 'cannot survive' without solving NHS workforce crisis, Scottish Labor warns

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Scottish Labor has warned the next Prime Minister that the NHS 'cannot survive' unless the labor crisis is resolved.

Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan are in the SNP leadership race to replace Nicola Sturgeon as party leader and Prime Minister.

In a warning to Mrs Sturgeon's successor , Scottish Labor Health spokesperson Jackie Baillie has called for an end to "more than a decade of failed workforce planning" under the Scottish Government.

< p>There were some 6,319 nursing and midwifery vacancies in Scotland in September 2022.

And the Royal College of Nursing warned last month of staff retention issues amid a 13% increase in the number of nurses leaving the register.

The Scottish Government's recovery strategy aims to hire 800 new nurses GP doctors by 2027 and 1,000 more mental health workers, but Audit Scotland warned last month that these targets were "unlikely to be met".

Speak ahead of a visit to the British Heart Foundation's cardiovascular research center in Glasgow, Ms Baillie said the problems dated back to Ms Sturgeon's time as health secretary where nursing training places had been cut, but she said that the NHS had reached 'crisis' under current Health Secretary Mr Yousaf.

She said: 'The next Prime Minister needs to do workforce planning of the NHS a priority because the health service cannot survive more of the same.

"Nicola Sturgeon made the cuts to the root of this crisis and Humza Yousaf let things get worse even more.

"This can't go on - these staffing shortages are at the heart of the chaos in n our NHS, leaving dedicated NHS staff burnt out and putting patients at risk.

"The current NHS workforce plan is not worth the paper it is written on.

"After more than a decade of failed workforce planning under the SNP, we need change."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "NHS Scotland staffing levels have reached historic highs, well over 20% since September 2006, with staff increases (WTE) by nearly 30,000 during this period.

“During the same period, medical and dental consultants increased by almost 66%, A&E consultants more than tripled and the number of registered nurses and midwives has increased by more than 10%. In fact, we have seen a decade of...