Scotland's NHS on its knees as 2000 doctors needed for crippling staffing crisis

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Today the Daily Record begins a week dedicated to saving our NHS by shining a spotlight on the huge challenges facing our GP surgeries and hospitals. Our NHS SOS series will examine the staffing crisis and show the true extent of the workforce problems, with vacancies having a real impact on our care.Later in the week we will look at the catastrophic effects of the growing numbers of delayed discharges, with patients queuing for beds and ambulances stacked up.We will examine the lasting damage of the Covid pandemic, the massive issue of NHS funding and the ageing population. We will be asking if there is a solution to the problems and whether Scots’ own lifestyles, with our diet, drink and drug culture, are contributing to the plight.

And we will ask our politicians how they will act to preserve our NHS. The NHS is the pride of our nation. Every patient, every politician and every staff member has a role to play in the service’s future.

We hope that by highlighting all the challenges it faces we can do our bit to keep the Scottish NHS alive and kicking.An army of 2000 Scots GPs is required to plug massive gaps in local surgeries across Scotland, according to one of the country’s most senior doctors.Iain Kennedy, chair of BMA Scotland, said there were also massive hospital consultant vacancies – with roughly three in every 20 positions unfilled.When you add in more than 6400 nursing and midwifery vacancies and catastrophic vacancies in social care, an emerging picture forms of why the NHS is on its knees.Speaking to the Daily Record as part of our NHS SOS series, Dr Kennedy, a Highland GP, admitted: “The workforce crisis in NHS Scotland, and indeed in social care, is my biggest concern.