Health secretary Humza Yousaf has said he is proud of the Scottish Government's recording on NHS staffing despite being warned it is breaking the law on safety by allowing the enlisting of students to fill gaps in nursing cover.
The health secretary was quizzed after the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland has talked of a new NHS crisis that is posing a risk to patientsprecisely three years after safe staffing became enshrined in law and after a First Minister pledge in 2016.
A Royal College of Nursing study has found that seven in ten staff say patient care is being compromised due to low staffing levels.
And almost nine in 10 (86%) nursing staff from Scotland said that the staffing levels on their last shift were not sufficient to meet the needs of patients safely and effectively.
But it has also uncovered "clear evidence" that students and support staff are being used to fill staffing gaps.
The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 which gained Royal Assent on June 6, three years ago places a duty on health and care providers to ensure there are suitably qualified and competent staff working in the right numbers and restates that nursing students are not to be counted in determining staffing level requirements.
The "shocking" RCN concerns, including the use of student to plug staffing gaps in potential breach of the law, were put to Mr Yousaf by Scottish Conservative shadow public health minister Tess White.
RCN Scotland has been fighting for work on implementation of the safe staffing act to restart, saying things are getting underway "slowly and the Scottish Government has yet to set out a clear timetable for when the legislation will be implemented.
Mr Yousaf said that he hoped to be publishing a timetable in the coming month but insisted that the Scottish Government had a "good track record" of investing in nurses.
He said Scotland had nore qualified nurses per 100,000 than other parts of the UK. He said Scotland has 8.5 qualified nurses and midwives per 1000 of the population compared with 6.1 in England.
He added: "I'm not suggesting at all and I'm not certainly not dismissing at all the very serious concerns RCN have raised. But our record on staffing is one that I'm very proud of. Vacancies in nursing and midwifery have decreased since the last quarter.
"Of course I am concerned about any reports of understaffing within our NHS. The government recognises the challenges associated with ensuring the health service has the right number of staff in the right place at the right time. Of course, we also recognise the demand pressures placed on our health service continue to be significantly exacerbated by the impacts of the pandemic.
"The recently published National Workforce Strategy for health and social care, does set out how we're working to deliver workforce recovery, that is on top of the 1000 additional new health care support workers recently recruited and on top of the nearly 200 new international nurses recruited with over 200 in the pipeline.
"NHS workforce statistics were published this morning. They show the NHS staffing levels continue to be at record high, including increases in nursing and midwifery. However, I'm not complacent. I recognise that notwithstanding our best efforts, the NHS continues to face significant demand pressures, and I welcome the conversations on safe staffing.
"And we'll continue to, of course, have regular dialogue with the RCN and other staffs trade unions on this important matter."
Nicola Sturgeon made the commitment to safe staffing levels six years ago.
The safe staffing act aimed to ensure providers in health and care sectors have the “appropriate” workforce in place to deliver “safe and high-quality care”.
It aimed to support both workload and workforce planning and introduces reporting requirements to ensure staffing decisions are open and transparent.
But Ms White said there were more than 6200 vacancies currently open across NHS Scotland and that the shortfall in registered nurses has risen to a record high under the SNP government.
"The situation is so bad that the RCN has evidence students are being enlisted to plug staffing gaps, a potential breach of the law," she said.
Mr Yousaf added: "We'll make sure we continue to invest in our staff and we will take forward that safe staffing element of the act she references.
"I take Tess White's point about the implementation of safe staffing legislation and that's why I'm committed to publishing an implementation timetable very soon."
The RCN findings show that less than a quarter (23%) of shifts had the planned number of registered nurses on shift and around a third (34%) had the planned number of nursing support staff on shift.
Just 16% agreed that they had enough time to provide the level of care they would like.
Nearly half (45%) of respondents said that due to a lack of time, they had to leave necessary care undone, They study found that staff were risking burnout by covering for gaps in the workforce - with over two thirds unable to take their breaks. Some 62% worked additional time during their last shift.
Staff in Scotland were most likely to state that during their last shift they "felt exhausted and negative" with 63% agreeing with that statement.
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