Supporting nurse supply and retention in Scotland
On Friday, the RCN in Scotland released its latest report on the nurse workforce in Scotland. The report indicates that the gap between planned staffing in the NHS and actual staffing is widening.
“Too many nursing staff are leaving the profession, across all career stages, from newly registered nurses leaving after only a few years in nursing, to those choosing to retire earlier than previously intended. Too few are joining to replace those that leave. At the same time, the demand for health care services continues to increase.”
The College recommends that the Scottish government must ensure the Ministerial Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce delivers funded, timely, meaningful and sustainable actions that make a positive difference for the nursing profession, including developing and implementing a detailed nursing retention strategy.
Whilst there is a broad range of interventions that must be undertaken, Retinue remains committed to standing with NHS Boards in Scotland to support the supply of quality nurses through bank, collaborative bank, and a neutral vendor agency management model.
When bank nursing is combined with agency nursing use, the equivalent of 6,587 WTE bank and agency staff were used in NHS Scotland in 2021/22, a 20.4% increase over the year. This was at a cost of £321m, a 36.0% increase compared with the year to March 2021 (NES, 2023a). This worker cohort cannot be ignore within the interventions, and solutions do not need to conflict with the overarching aim of Scottish Government to reduce reliance on agency staff.
Our unique technology, recruitment and procurement capability is designed to ensure that NHS providers can be assured of:
- Quality, compliant supply.
- Continuity and use of a local, skilled workforce wherever possible.
- Bank-first policies are enforced.
- Best-value supply is a driving principle.
However, our contingent staffing solutions are never centred on the transactional supply of workers. Our commitment to quality and long-term sustainable supply and problem-solving for customers means we also have tools embedded within our solutions designed to support some of the specific areas within the retention strategy proposed by the RCN:
1. Career progression and development, including protected time for learning.
2. Flexible working opportunities throughout an individual’s career.
3. Improve employer engagement and communication with staff.
Equally, by taking an aligned and integrated approach across provider organisations with our collaborative platforms and policies, we can prevent inter-Board competition for the same staff. This has the dual benefit of preventing cost escalation and ensuring unwarranted variation, and therefore hidden cost is removed from processes and policies.
Contact us today at enquires@retinue-solutions.com to understand more about system-wide and regional collaborative products.