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Nurse satisfaction of sufficient staffing rises by 1%, survey finds

Only 1% more health and social care staff in Scotland feel there is sufficient staffing at their workplace compared to three years ago, a survey has found

Only 1% more health and social care staff in Scotland feel there is sufficient staffing at their workplace compared to three years ago, a survey has found

In 2017, 34% of all staff surveyed agreed with the statement ‘there are enough staff for me to do my job properly’ compared to 33% in 2015.


Picture: iStock

The number who disagreed with the statement fell from 67% to 46% in the same timeframe.

The results have been published today in the annual Health and Social Care Staff Experience Report, commissioned by the Scottish government, and covers all 22 health boards and 23 health and social care partnerships in the country.

Gathering results

It is the combined results of analysing data gathered from two separate surveys, iMatter and Dignity at Work surveys completed in late 2017.

Of the 19,515 nurses and midwives who responded to the two surveys, only 27% agreed there were enough staff. A comparison figure with 2015 is not available due to differences in data collection.

Breaking the overall results down by age group revealed those age 16-20 and those over 65 were most likely to feel there was enough staff to allow them to do their job properly.

Overall for both surveys, the statements which received the lowest scores were those relating to training and development, as well as organisational involvement.

Only 57% of respondents felt involved in the decision-making process in their places of work.


Norman Provan

RCN response

Responding to the report, RCN Scotland associate director Norman Provan said: ‘It’s positive to see that engagement has been considerably higher than the previous staff survey.

‘However the feedback in the report highlights a number of areas, namely workforce planning and involvement in decision making, where more effective action plans need to be put in place.

‘This is particularly important given the scale and pace of change faced by health and social care services through integration and regionalisation.

He added: ‘The survey findings support our calls for guaranteed safe staffing levels with two thirds of those who responded stating there are not enough of them to provide safe, effective care.

‘NHS staff on the front line have spoken out; it is now up to those in positions of power to listen and to act.’

Health and Social Care Staff Experience Report 2017


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