NHS Scotland in a perilous situation, says doctors' union

Scotland’s NHS is in “a perilous situation” amid a staffing and funding crisis, according to the chairman of the doctors’ union.

Dr Iain Kennedy said urgent action was needed to tackle workload pressures ahead of a potentially “terrifying” winter period.

It comes after Scotland’s health secretary Humza Yousaf admitted NHS Scotland was not performing well.

Mr Yousaf told BBC Scotland it would take at least five years to fix.

Official figures show about 6,000 nursing and midwifery posts are unfilled while A&E waiting time targets continue to be missed.

Dr Kennedy, who is chairman of the industry body BMA Scotland, said it was good to hear Mr Yousaf being honest about the scale of the problems, but added that “frankly we cannot wait five years” for things to improve.

He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “The NHS in Scotland is in a perilous situation and we have a particular crisis around the workforce – we simply do not have enough doctors in general practice and in hospitals.

“We need more urgent action because the pressures and the workload have really shot up.”

Dr Kennedy added: “In A&E, for example, I was hearing from a colleague yesterday about ambulances waiting in queues of 10 with five-hour waits.

“In general practice, GPs are on their knees. We have practices falling over across the whole of Scotland.

“Doctors are terrified about the winter and the year ahead.”

The health secretary previously warned this winter would be “the most challenging the NHS has faced”.

Humza Yousaf said hospitals were dealing with the legacy of the pandemic, tighter budgets and reduced staffing.

Recent figures showed that less than 70% of people attending A&E were seen with four hours. The target is 95%.

More than 7,000 people were also waiting more than two years to start hospital treatment at the end of last month.

Dr Kennedy has called on the government to publish a “heat map” showing where NHS vacancies are unfilled across Scotland.

He said: “The public need to see transparency on where the vacancies are. We think that there are probably 15% vacancies across hospital consultant posts across Scotland.

“Even the government admits to 7% and that we are at least 800 GPs short in Scotland – and I, and others, suspect we are probably well over that figure now.”

Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said Dr Kennedy had highlighted the view of many frontline medics that the NHS is in crisis.

She said: “For 15 years this SNP government has failed to tackle the staffing crisis at the heart of our NHS, all the while the working conditions and welfare of frontline workers has declined.

“We now face a humanitarian crisis in our NHS with lives being lost as a result.

“Humza Yousaf cannot keep deflecting responsibility for the SNP’s failure, whilst hopelessly promising change in five years’ time as a crisis of deadly magnitude unfolds on his watch. We need urgent action now before winter sets in.”

The Scottish Conservatives’ health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said Dr Kennedy’s “devastating” comments” paint a terrifying picture of the reality facing our NHS”.

He added: “Humza Yousaf’s inaction and flimsy recovery plans have pushed our health service well beyond breaking point and it is staff and suffering patients who are paying the price.

“Our NHS is on life support and the health secretary is conspicuous by his absence. It is time for him to get a grip, heed these stark warnings from Dr Kennedy and urgently give the health service the support it needs.”

The latest warnings come as nursing staff are balloting for strike action, after criticising a pay offer of a flat rate of £2,205 per person, backdated to April.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it was a real-terms pay cut and accused the government of not listening to staff concerns.

However, Unison suspended its strike ballot of NHS staff and is consulting on a revised deal.

By Claire McAllister, BBC Scotland health producer

Staffing and recruitment is not a new problem in health and social care.

While the number of people employed in the NHS in Scotland has increased in recent years, there are still high vacancy rates.

The number of staff leaving is also a problem. NHS figures show the highest turnover rate in a decade within the last year. While 19,309 staff joined the NHS, 15,389 left between March 2021 and March 2022.

The gaps in staffing leave existing workers stretched. Health professionals say it can impact on the quality of care they can deliver.

Staff shortages also lead to delays in the whole system. It can mean longer waits for appointments, operations and getting home from hospital.

Earlier this year the Scottish government published its workforce strategy for health and social care. The target is to grow the NHS workforce over the next five years by 1%. So, it’s no surprise that winter plans also include aims to recruit additional staff including some for overseas.

However, internationally and within the UK there is competition to recruit staff and with record high vacancies here it will take a major drive to help bulk up the workforce.