Nursing numbers fall by 1,000

The number of nurses has fallen by 1,000 since 1996, figures say

The number of nurses working in Scotland has fallen by more than 1,000 since Labour came to power, according to NHS figures.

In September 1996 there were 62,477 nurses working in the NHS while the latest figures for last September show there are 61,464.

The Scottish National Party's health spokeswoman Nicola Sturgeon, who revealed the unpublished figures on Friday morning, said this was an extremely alarming drop and meant a lower quality of service for patients than under the last Tory government.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said nursing was in crisis in Scotland with 10,000 qualified nurses no longer working in the health service.

Nicola Sturgeon: "Extremely alarming"

The RCN's Board Secretary James Kennedy said nurses must start being valued and rewarded.

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive dismissed the figures saying the number of frontline nursing staff had actually increased since 1996 and the executive was already committed to increasing the number of nurses by 1,500.

Miss Sturgeon described the figures from the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of the NHS as "extremely alarming".

Speaking at a press conference at SNP headquarters in Edinburgh she said that after four years of New Labour there were 1,013 fewer nurses in Scottish hospitals.

Patient care

She went on: "The impact of the reduction in the number of nurses on patient care is obvious for all to see.

"Waiting lists are higher now than when Labour took office, in spite of a pledge to cut them by 10,000, and waiting times for in-patients and out-patient care have also lengthened.

"The shortage of nurses employed in the NHS also increases the reliance of trusts on costly agency nurses."

Miss Sturgeon accepted that Labour was training more nurses for the NHS and that it would take time before they were able to go on the wards.

Susan Deacon: Plans 10,000 nurses and midwives in next five years

But she insisted the dropout rate on training courses was 25% because working in the profession was not an attractive enough prospect.

She said she had used the figure of 62,477 from September 30, 1996, because it was the last available figure before Labour came to power.

She added that the ISD figures also showed a decline since devolution with the figures for September 1999 standing at 61,598 nurses, 134 more than at present.

A spokeswoman for the executive dismissed the figures used by the SNP as "misleading".

Nurses and midwives

She said: "The number of qualified front line NHS staff in NHSScotland - nurses and midwives - has risen since 1996."

She also said the number of contracted places on pre-registration nursing and midwifery diploma courses was increasing steadily, up by 12% over the last four years, with a further 3% increase during 2000/01.

She said: "The health minister (Susan Deacon) has already outlined in the health plan that during the next five years, 10,000 nurses and midwives will qualify in Scotland, 1,500 more than previously planned."