ISD figures released today have revealed that in some instances vacancy rates in the Scottish Borders is higher in the Scottish Borders than it is in Scotland as at 30 June 2017.
Figures released today reveal that the vacancy rate for Nursing and Midwifery is 6%. The total vacancies is 73.3 with 21.2 (1.7%) of those positions being vacant for more than 3 months.
In Scotland the vacancy rate for Nursing and Midwifery is 5.2% with 1.5% being vacant for 3 months.
The vacancy rate for Allied Health professionals is also higher in the Scottish Borders than the Scottish national average. In the Borders the vacancy rate was 5.5% - a total of 10.7 vacancies with 5.1 (2.6%) being vacant for more than 3 months.
In Scotland the vacancy rate was 4.5% with 1.1% being vacant for more than 3 months.
The latest ISD Figures found that the number of nursing and vacancy rates had a hit a record high in Scotland.
Rachael Hamilton MSP said:‘These figures clearly show that the Scottish Borders has a recruitment problem for Nursing and Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals. It is concerning that in both these fields the Scottish Borders performs worse than the national average.
‘Perhaps a deeper concern is that in both instances the number of these vacant positions that have remained so for 3 months or longer is also higher than the Scottish national average.
‘This SNP Government needs to address this recruitment issue as a matter of urgency and they also need to start to acknowledge the challenges that rural health boards, like NHS Borders, have in recruiting much needed NHS professionals.’
'The Scottish Borders is a fantastic place to work and live. More needs to be done to encourage people to come here and do just that in our local NHS.'