A FIFE MSP has accused NHS Fife of being "in denial" over staff shortages.

Alex Rowley met with officials from UNISON Scotland and their Fife health branch as new figures show that there are 506 vacancies for nursing and midwifery in Fife alone, accounting for 11 per cent of the nursing and midwifery workforce in Fife..

Mr Rowley said: "I am disappointed in the response to date from senior management within NHS Fife who seem to be in denial and I warn them that failure to listen to their own workforce and engage constructively at the local level is not sustainable.

"It is of great concern to hear the level of pressure that staff are working under and even more concerning that there does not seem to be a plan in place to reduce that pressure."

He believes there has been a "failure" to create a plan which addresses issues and represents the current workforce.

"The NHS was the greatest social and political creation of the last century and we have a duty to ensure its continuation into this century with the driving principle being healthcare being available and free at the point of need."

Commenting on the latest statistics, Colin Poolman, the Royal College of Nursing's Scotland interim director, said: "These statistics make very difficult reading for nursing staff all across Scotland who have more than proven their worth in the past two years.

"They deserve more than to turn up to work shift after shift and be expected to deal with significantly-increased demand with fewer and fewer nursing staff. Nursing staff are forced to go even more than the extra mile and, when the shortages are greatest, they are forced to leave patient care undone.”

NHS Fife director of nursing Janette Owens said: "We are acutely aware of the scale of the pressures on staffing and have acknowledged this repeatedly during our public board meetings, and indeed in our regular meetings with our elected representatives, including Mr Rowley MSP.

"Such issues are being experienced by boards across the country and we are working at both a local and national level to establish shorter- and longer-term measures to help relieve the pressures on frontline staff. 

"The situation remains, however, that nursing recruitment is extremely challenging, with the number of vacancies far greater than the number of qualified and available nursing staff. Despite recruiting extensively prior to, and indeed during the pandemic, a high number of vacancies remain, due in no small part to the fact we now require a far larger nursing workforce than needed previously. This is as a result of the residual challenges associated with COVID, the subsequent vaccination programme and the unprecedented demand we are seeing currently. 

"The reality is there are no means by which we can fill all available vacancies overnight and so we must be much more pragmatic in how we look to tackle the existing pressures on our workforce. As part of these efforts, we have recently successfully recruited more than 70 healthcare support workers to help support our qualified nursing staff. Earlier this year, we also commenced our overseas recruitment programme, becoming the first health board in Scotland to welcome international recruits into the workforce as part of a new partnership with Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.  

“As in previous years, we continue to achieve considerable success in attracting newly-qualified nursing staff to join our workforce. This vital work has enabled us to recruit 160 newly-qualified nurses this year, who will begin taking up post from September. We have also greatly expanded our nurse bank, with more than 850 additional bank staff recruited in 2021-22, who continue to support our wards and departments across Fife. 

“Our doors are always open to our staff-side and unions, and indeed representatives from UNISON met with our chief executive and some of our senior clinicians to discuss the concerns they have expressed, and to look at ways in which we could work jointly to help ease the pressure on our workforce. As we have done throughout the pandemic, we will continue to work with our staff-side and union colleagues to provide every possible support to those staff working tirelessly on our frontline to care for those who need it most.”