Commenting on the study comparing literacy standards across the UK from Professor Keith Topping of the University of Dundee, Scottish Labour’s education spokesperson Iain Gray MSP said:
Commenting on the study comparing literacy standards across the UK from Professor Keith Topping of the University of Dundee, Scottish Labour’s education spokesperson Iain Gray MSP said:
Commenting on the intervention from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chair, Scottish Labour’s justice spokesperson Claire Baker MSP said:
Spending on agency nurses in Scotland has risen six-fold in five years, new figures highlighted by local MSP Jackie Baillie have revealed.
In 2010/11, health boards spent a total of just under £4million on agency nurses – but that number sky-rocketed to more than £24million by 2016/17, Labour can reveal. In the same period, the number of nursing and midwifery posts being unfilled increased from 550 to almost 3,000.
In the space of just one year spending on agency nurses in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has risen by 82% to reach over £5 million in 2016/17, the highest ever recorded by the health board.
Jackie Baillie said the figures show the price of Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to slash training places for nurses when she was Health Secretary.
The figures have been revealed as part of Labour’s summer campaign, For the Many, which this week will focus on the NHS.
Jackie said:
“These are truly extraordinary figures that show the price of Nicola Sturgeon’s mismanagement of our NHS. A six-fold increase in spending on agency nurses should be a wake-up call for the Scottish Government. Nicola Sturgeon’s cuts are leaving our NHS staff over-worked and under-pressure.
“NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is now spending eye-watering sums of money on agency nurses due to cuts in training places. Yet staff at the Vale of Leven Hospital are not getting the resources they need. There are 113 fewer nurses and midwives at the Vale, a cut of 28%, and that means more pressure on our NHS staff and patients.
“Nicola Sturgeon needs to get back to the day job of fixing the mess she has made of our NHS.”
Agency Spending
Agency nursing and midwifery for financial period 1st April – 31st March |
|
Apr 1 – Mar 31 |
Cost (£) |
2011/12 |
3,939,107 |
2012/13 |
6,390,142 |
2013/14 |
9,325,810 |
2014/15 |
16,001,526 |
2015/16 |
23,483,306 |
2016/17 |
24,504,912 |
Total |
83,644,803 |
Source: ISD Scotland Bank and agency nursing and midwifery comparison (capacity) (March 2017)
– The spending change from 11/12 to 16/17 represents a 522 per cent increase.
– As Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon cut nurse training places which she said was ‘a sensible way forward’
Total Nursing and Midwifery vacancies |
|
Date |
Nursing & Midwifery Vacancies (WTE) |
Mar-2011 |
552.4 |
Mar-2012 |
1027.9 |
Mar-2013 |
1609.1 |
Mar-2014 |
1637.5 |
Mar-2015 |
1991.8 |
Mar-2016 |
2211.4 |
Mar-2017 |
2818.9 |
11 – 17 Percentage Change |
410.3 |
Scottish Labour has launched the NHS and Social Care Workforce Commission to find solutions to tackle the staffing crisis in our health service.
Chair of the Commission
Dr. Miles Mack has agreed to chair our Health and Social Care Workforce Commission. He will bring his knowledge and expertise in particular on primary care to our important work. He will remain politically neutral.
Key areas the Commission will be exploring:
– consider how best to decide the appropriate number of training places for health care workers
– develop a strategy for attracting and retaining NHS and Social Care staff, including considering pay in light of the ongoing pay cay and career pathways
– consider funding models , for example whether direct payments to students will better support healthcare students
– examine the public sector’s reliance on agency staff
– analyse the potential impact of demographic changes on future workforce requirements
– consider what additional frameworks, regulations and legislation could best support the health and social care workforce
Labour’s five-point plan to eradicate working poverty would help more than 12,000 people in West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute.
The plan includes raising the minimum wage to £10 an hour by 2020, which would lift the salaries of 5,000 people in West Dunbartonshire and 8,000 people in Argyll and Bute.
The move is part of Scottish Labour’s ongoing summer campaign, For The Many.
The plan includes:
• Increasing the minimum wage to £10 an hour by 2020
• Banning zero hours contracts
• Tackling the cost of living by scrapping the council tax
• Using Holyrood’s social security powers to increase the number of Scots receiving tax credits
• Investing in education so our people can compete for the high-skill, high-wage jobs of the future
Local MSP Jackie Baillie said:
“Scottish Labour will wage war on working poverty across Scotland and in Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond. The levels of working poverty in Scotland are at their highest point since devolution.
“It’s simply disgraceful that a job isn’t enough to keep some people above the breadline. That’s why a UK Labour government would deliver a real living wage of £10 an hour by 2020 – and ban exploitative zero hour contracts.
“Those changes would benefit at least 12,000 people in West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute.
“There’s no excuse for Nicola Sturgeon not to use the powers of the Scottish Parliament to help deliver a plan that would eradicate working poverty in Scotland.
“Scotland needs a government to fight austerity and stand-up for hard working people.”
The number of childcare providers has fallen to the lowest level on record, despite the SNP promising a ‘revolution’ in childcare.
Scottish Labour’s Shadow Education Minister Daniel Johnson MSP said:
The number of childcare providers (NB the date of measurement shifted from December to March in 2016):
Dec
08 |
Dec
09 |
Dec
10 |
Dec
11 |
Dec
12 |
Dec13 | Dec14 | Dec15 | Mar16 | Mar17 | Change
08-17 |
|
Total | 10,250 | 10,179 | 10,112 | 10,159 | 10,099 | 9,968 | 9,859 | 9,726 | 9643 | 9282 | -968 |
Total (excluding Childminders) | 4,211 | 4,113 | 4,005 | 3,910 | 3,825 | 3,783 | 3,757 | 3,772 | 3758 | 3726 | -485 |
Childminders | 6,039 | 6,066 | 6,107 | 6,249 | 6,274 | 6,185 | 6,102 | 5,954 | 5885 | 5556 | -483 |
The SNP has admitted Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to cut training places for nurses and midwives was a mistake, local MSP Jackie Baillie has said.
The first part of the Scottish Government’s National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan commits to an extra 2,600 extra nursing and midwifery training places being created over the next four years.
Nicola Sturgeon cut training places for nurses and midwives in 2012 when she was Health Secretary, against warnings from Jackie Baillie, who was the Labour Shadow Health Secretary at the time, and the Royal College of Nursing.
Jackie said the failure to train enough staff left soaring numbers of unfilled posts in our health service and put services under risk, with various units across Scotland threatened with closure because of staff shortages.
The SNP’s workforce plan has been repeatedly delayed and has now been split into three parts, with the full plan not likely to be available until next year.
Jackie said:
“The SNP has finally admitted Nicola Sturgeon was wrong to cut training places for nurses and midwives as Health Secretary.
“This plan is simply an admission of Nicola Sturgeon’s failure and exposes a decade of SNP mismanagement of our NHS.
“I welcome the promise of additional training places, and we hope it is a promise the SNP government keeps.
“In 2012, Nicola Sturgeon claimed cutting training places was a sensible way forward – at the same time we have seen the number of nurses and midwives at the Vale of Leven Hospital slashed by 28%.
“Shockingly, this plan says nothing on scrapping the NHS pay cap. The SNP government remains in complete denial if it thinks it can attract and retain staff while delivering a real terms pay cut every year.
“For a decade the SNP has been more interested in running a referendum campaign than running our health service. Instead we get a piecemeal, sticking plaster approach to our health service.
Notes
1.) When Nicola Sturgeon was Health Secretary she cut training places for nurses and midwives. Source: https://www.nursingtimes.net/roles/nurse-educators/rcn-attacks-planned-cut-in-scottish-student-nurse-places/5040768.article
2.) Nurses are £3,400 worse off under the SNP – http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/blog/entry/nurses-are-3400-worse-off-under-the-snp