The call comes as the Nursing and Midwifery Council publishes the latest data on the register of nurses and midwives.
Growth in the number of nurses on the NMC register in Scotland has slowed over the past year with a net increase of 1.6% in 2025-26. This means there are now 77,471 registered nurses eligible to work here. But, behind that figure, the trends are less encouraging. The net increase of 1.6% is down from an increase of 2.3% in 2024-25.
The number of joiners fell by 11.6% (3,462) and number of leavers rose by 1.5% (2,896) compared with the 12 months to March 2025.
The NMC’s leavers’ survey found that almost half (45.7%) of total respondents left the profession before they planned.
Retirement, poor health, a change in personal circumstances and burnout remain the top four reasons cited for leaving, in line with findings across the UK.
Commenting on the data, Colin Poolman, RCN Scotland Director, said:
“While the pool of registered nurses increases incrementally each year, the trends behind the data make worrying reading. The Scottish government must do much more to stem the flow of experienced nurses out of the profession. Losing experienced nurses, before they intended to leave, robs the workforce of invaluable experience.
“We have spent the past year and a half pushing for fully-funded implementation of the recommendations from the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce. The Taskforce’s report was published in February 2025 but, since then, progress on implementation has been much slower than is needed. The new Cabinet Secretary must act now and find the funding to implement the Taskforce actions urgently.
“In our recent ‘The Gloves are Off’ campaign for the Scottish parliamentary elections we said that the nursing workforce needs to be seen as the asset it truly is, not a cost to be managed on the balance sheet. Without proper investment in nursing, the Scottish government won’t be able to fill the stubbornly persistent gaps we have now in the nursing workforce or to fill each new year’s training places.”
