Pat Cullen speaking with nursing staff at St John's Hospital in Livingston
During her visit, Pat spoke with nursing staff at the Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh, St. John’s Hospital in Livingston and Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert along with RCN representatives from Lothian and Forth Valley branches.
Her whistlestop two-day tour came in the middle of the RCN’s strike ballot and at a time that the number of vacancies for NHS nurses in Scotland soared by nearly 22% to over 4,450 in the 12 months to the end of June, with around one in ten registered nurse posts unfilled.
Pat Cullen speaking with nursing staff at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert
Pat heard from members about the challenges they are facing and urged them to vote for strike action in protest at decades of below inflation pay rises, and the growing nurse staffing crisis in Scotland’s NHS.
Ms Cullen said: “Nursing staff across Scotland, and the wider UK, are burnt out and ministers choosing to suppress their pay well below inflation in a worsening cost of living crisis is forcing more to reconsider their future.
“Rather than leave a fantastic profession, I was encouraged to hear from members that enough is enough and the time has come for them to vote for strike action.
"Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care must do better to give all nursing staff a pay award that their hard work and dedication deserves as part of resolving the all-engulfing NHS crisis."
Pat Cullen speaking with nursing staff atAstley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh
