One in five nurses at Dr Gray’s Hospital are missing due to retirement or quitting for other roles.
Dozens of posts are vacant at the Elgin facility, according to a report going before a Moray Council committee next week.
But health bosses say help is just around the corner with a slew of new-starts ready to hit the wards.
Dr Gray’s staffing: the current picture
Currently Dr Gray’s has nursing vacancies of around 26 whole-time equivalent staff.
This amounts to roughly 20% of all its registered and non-registered nurses.
Chiefs say it’s largely due to former staff members retiring, with others moving to different hospitals or quitting the profession entirely.
As a result, nurses are “often” being moved to other wards within Dr Gray’s to “equalise the risk”.
There’s also a reliance on agency nurses to help boost numbers, particularly for surgery.
More problems could emerge throughout this year as 20 staff – including 10 in nursing and midwifery – are due to retire by the end of 2023.
A further 18 in this field, and 39 overall, are due to hang up their scrubs by March 2027.
Recruitment challenges
The Elgin hospital was part of a wider NHS Grampian initiative to recruit more staff internationally.
Last year we revealed around 30 nurses from Nigeria had signed up to work in the north-east.
Others from the United Arab Emirates, Nepal and India were poised to join them too.
It followed recruitment success during a fact-finding trip to Australia several years ago.
Unfortunately for Dr Gray’s, the report says these new hires typically favour roles in Aberdeen over those further afield.
Talent searches across the UK have also been mentioned – but these can sometimes be seen as more of a stepping-stone position by applicants.
The report said: “The risk here is that if nurses are offered another position with substantially larger pay, they are more likely to move back to nearer to where they originate from, to take advantage of the higher financial reward and avoid relocation costs.”
New nursing recruits on the way to Dr Gray’s
However, health bosses say 18 new graduates will be entering the workforce in the coming months.
Their report, to go before the Moray integration joint board, says the recruits will work closely with the hospital’s practice education team.
This will ensure they have the necessary skills to “increase their impact” within the hospital.
Over the next three years, bosses have also pledged to improve workforce planning, retain more staff by offering better career progression, and improving the data they collect and analyse.
The report was written by interim strategy and planning lead Carmen Gillies, concluding: “We acknowledge that strategic action is needed both now and into the future to improve the sustainability of the health and social care system.”
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