Nursing and midwifery vacancies in NHS Scotland rise by 60 per cent in six months

Official data showed that as of June 30 the NHS had a total of 3,227.3 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts for nurses and midwives that were unfilled. That total is up from 2,015.4 WTE at the end of December last year.

The figures come as a survey by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Scotland found almost one in five staff are having to provide care in an “inappropriate setting” every day, prompting calls for “urgent action” from ministers over a “corridor care crisis”.

The RCN in Scotland found 19 per cent of its members were looking after patients in areas such as corridors, waiting rooms or cupboards on a daily basis. A further 13 per cent of the 515 staff surveyed said they were having to do this on a weekly basis.

Meanwhile, medical and dental vacancies in the NHS have risen by almost a quarter, from 378.4 WTE on December 31 2024 to 468.7 WTE six months later - an increase of 23.8 per cent.

Vacancies for allied health professionals - such as physiotherapists, dieticians, occupational therapists and others - rose by 39 per cent over the same period.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex-Cole Hamilton branded the rise in nursing and midwifery vacancies "hugely troubling", adding that the increase "stems all the way back to Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP cutting training places and claiming that was 'sensible'".

Mr Cole-Hamilton added: "In the years that followed, staff have been run ragged. Exhausted and demoralised, they are struggling to provide the high-quality care patients need, and many are reaching for the door."

Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane said that the "shocking" statistics "lay bare the SNP's woefully inadequate workforce planning".

A&E waiting times ‘dangerously high’

The Tory added: "It's little wonder A&E waiting times are dangerously high and operations are being cancelled when our NHS has such a huge shortfall in the number of nurses needed."

However, Health Secretary Neil Gray welcomed the increase in the overall NHS workforce, with this total up by 0.2 per cent over the year to June 2025 .

Mr Gray said: "Our workforce is the greatest asset of the National Health Service, and I remain extremely grateful for the daily contribution they make to providing high quality services to patients across Scotland ."

According to the latest statistics, NHS Scotland employed 67,326 WTE nursing and midwifery staff as of June 30 2025, along with 6,103.8 WTE consultants and 14,096.3 WTE allied health professionals.

Eileen McKenna , associate director of RCN Scotland, said the rising problem of corridor care is “completely unacceptable”.

She said: "No patient should ever have to suffer the risk or indignity of being cared for in such a way.

"Despite Scottish Government's commitment 'to eliminate non-standard care areas', RCN members are telling us that corridor care has been allowed to become normal practice and is now a year-round crisis."

In January the RCN originally declared what it branded as a "corridor care crisis" in hospitals across the UK, saying then that a "devastating collapse in care standards" with patients "routinely coming to harm".

A follow-up survey from that was carried out by RCN Scotland between between June 26 and July 13 this year.

‘No end to crisis in sight’

Ms McKenna said that while First Minister John Swinney had pledged to deliver "solutions to alleviate the pressures and overcrowding" faced by the NHS, the improvement plan produced in March had "contained little that was new".

The nursing leader added that this plan "also lacked the detail needed to assess whether or not it would solve the problems our health and care services are facing, including corridor care".

However she said: "I see no end to this crisis in sight."

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As a result, Ms McKenna demanded "urgent action" from the Scottish Government, saying: "Ministers must be responsible for reporting publicly cold, hard data on exactly how many patients are being cared for in these circumstances, including the likely impact on patients and staff, along with the actions being taken to reduce and eradicate occurrences."

She also called on the government to "commit to long-term action and investment focused on addressing the nursing workforce shortages" along with action to improve capacity across hospitals, community care and social care settings, to help "ease the pressure across the whole system".

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.