HOSPITALS in Scotland are struggling to fill a soaring number of vacancies for consultants, sparking grave warnings about the pressure on services and staff.

The number of consultant posts that are unfilled has more than trebled in the last four years, with the current vacancy rate standing at 8.3 per cent, according to official NHS statistics.

In June 2011 the NHS reported that 127.9 whole time equivalent (WTE) consultant posts were vacant, but by June this year that had risen to 447.5 WTE.

Of these, 188 WTE positions have been empty for at least half a year, a rise of 102.4 per cent on June 2014.

Professor Derek Bell, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, described the rising number of vacancies as “extremely worrying”.

The British Medical Association Scotland said consultants were working very hard to cover the gaps but “there is a limit to how long people can work safely at this intensity”.

Dr Nikki Thompson, who chairs the BMA’s Scottish Consultants Committee, said: “Twice as many consultant jobs are now lying vacant for months on end, and staff and services cannot continue at this level of pressure.

“The Scottish Government must recognise that they have a major recruitment and retention problem, which will damage the care that patients receive.”

Dr Thompson also said: “They must take urgent action to value and retain those consultants we have, and to attract the others that patients and services need.”

Professor Bell also called on the Scottish Government to work with others to address the issue “as
a matter of priority”.

However, Health Secretary Shona Robison said any rise in vacancies is “in part due to the creation of new posts in health boards”.

She also pointed out there had been increases in other types of NHS staff.

Ms Robison said: “Today’s figures show that the number of people working in NHS Scotland has increased by more than 10,000 under the current government.

“This includes more than 2,000 additional WTE-qualified nurses and midwives working in Scotland’s NHS, and an additional 1,300 WTE consultants.”

The figures follow concerns published in The Herald about the relatively large proportion of junior  doctors trained in Scotland who leave the country to take jobs abroad.

Royal colleges in Glasgow and Edinburgh called for the possibility of training more doctors in Scotland to be considered to address the shortages.

Opposition politicians have also questioned what is being done about the vacancy rates.

Jim Hume, health spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: “The Health Secretary must set out the Scottish Government’s plans to tackle this skills shortage.

“With vacancies for consultants trebling in four years, health boards will be forced to rely on more expensive and short-term solutions such as the use of locum doctors.”

Jackson Carlaw, health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “This is not a new issue and it is one the Scottish Government should have got on top of long ago.

“Of course, ministers cannot simply create applicants to take these jobs, but it is pretty obvious Scotland is not training enough of its own specialist NHS staff.”