Temporary NHS staff spend reaches record high under SNP

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP today said NHS staff and patients are paying the price for the SNP's carelessness after new figures revealed that the Scottish Government is spending more money on temporary NHS staff than ever before.

NHS workforce figures show that in 2023/24:

• £490m was spent on bank and agency nursing and midwifery staff, up from £447.4m the previous year;
• £129m was spent on locum doctors and dentists - an increase of £10m from 2022/23;
• Combined, these figures represent a total spend of £619m on temporary staff across the NHS - the highest figure on record.

It comes as Alex Cole-Hamilton and Christine Jardine took to the campaign trail in Edinburgh in a bid to "brush the SNP away".

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

"These figures show the cost of trying to paper over the cracks created by the SNP's botched workforce planning.

"The complete failure by this SNP-Green government to recruit and retain staff stretches all the way back to Nicola Sturgeon cutting training places and claiming that was ‘sensible’. Now staff and patients are both paying the price for their carelessness.

"The SNP have created a false economy that is causing Scotland's NHS to spend vast sums of money on expensive agency workers.

"Scottish Liberal Democrats would completely overhaul the SNP's failed NHS Recovery Plan to get workforce planning back on track and increase training places in key areas such as mental heath and dentistry. The SNP also need to reverse their opposition to a Burnout Prevention Strategy, otherwise they run the risk of losing many more NHS staff who we desperately need."