02.12.15
Recruitment challenges lead to sharp rise in consultant posts vacant for six months
Although the proportion of vacant consultant posts has remained the same throughout NHS Scotland, there was a 25.5% rise of full-time jobs vacant for more than six months, ISD Scotland has found.
At 30 September of this year, 6.4% (345.5) of consultant posts were vacant, similar to last year’s rate of 6.5%. But of these, more than 138 posts had been empty for half a year, 25% more than the year before.
In nursing and midwifery wards, there was an increase of more than 15% of full-time posts vacant for more than three months compared to September of last year.
Today’s figures also build on similar findings in June of this year, at which point the BMA warned of a major recruitment and retention problem amongst Scotland’s consultants.
According to ISD Scotland, high numbers of vacancies are intended to meet increasing demand in the health service. Vacancies are often difficult to fill due to a lack of trainee doctors in a particular speciality, or difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified staff.
Increasing the supply of consultants can be particularly challenging due to the length and expense of the job’s training.
Within consultancy, general acute medicine posts had the highest vacancy rate at 14%. While this did compare to only 3.9% within anaesthetics, five of the remaining eight specialities in the field had vacancy rates above 8%.
There has been a general upward trend in consultant vacancies since September 2011, when datasets were first made available.
But the pattern of long-term vacancies, or jobs left unfilled for more than six months, was also shifting. In September of this year, the split between short- and long-term vacancies was nearly 50-50.
BMA Scotland said these figures were of “particular concern” at a time where demand continues to grow year on year. It also suggested that the body’s official statistics were underestimating the true amount of consultant vacancies in the country.
Dr Nikki Thompson, chair of the BMA’s Scottish consultants committee, said: “The fact that official figures have shown the number of vacant consultant positions is still on the rise is extremely worrying. We also know that there are consultant vacancies that do not get picked up in official statistics, so the picture is very likely worse than these figures suggest.
“Consultants in post and working are vital to patient care. Jobs unfilled after months on end puts huge pressure on services as remaining consultants struggle to cover the gaps.
“The Scottish Government must recognise that they have a major recruitment and retention problem, and take action to value the consultant we have, and attract those others that patients and services desperate need.”
RCN Scotland’s associate director, Ellen Hudson, also criticised the large gap between the numbers of nursing staff that health boards need to meet growing demand, even despite the government’s attempt to address shortages.
“This situation is not sustainable and puts even more pressure on existing staff who are working flat out on our wards and out in the community, without enough staff and feeling unable to provide the care they would like to,” she added.
But Scotland health secretary Shona Robison said NHS staff numbers have risen significantly under the government, including more consultants, nurses and midwives delivering care.
“The recent rise in nursing and midwifery vacancies is due to the creation of new posts in health boards, mainly as a result of information from the workload and workforce planning tools,” she continued.
“Several health boards have received additional investment to increase their nursing numbers and are in the process of recruiting these additional nurses. We know that health boards are working hard to fill vacancies, and they are going in the right direction.”
Robison added that the Scottish Government will continue to work with health boards and ISD Scotland to design “better, more consistent recording of vacancies”, with any findings due to be published imminently.