The NHS in north and north-east Scotland is facing a mass exodus of staff after a quarter of workers said they hoped to quit within a year.
A shock new staff survey has revealed more than 6,500 workers currently employed at NHS Grampian and NHS Highland plan to leave in the next 12 months.
More than a third of employees also said they did not think the two health boards were good places to work.
NHS Grampian and NHS Highland have already suffered well-documented recruitment difficulties, with fears they could face a staffing crisis without intervention.
Last night, Labour’s equalities spokeswoman Jenny Marra demanded action from the Scottish Government.
The North East MSP said: “This NHS staff survey will make grim reading for Health Minister Shona Robison.
“With just under a quarter of NHS staff in Grampian looking to leave the health service within the next 12 months, the SNP need to start addressing the problem of work pressure and low morale.
“Our NHS staff do a great job in very difficult circumstances but it is clear that many staff are dissatisfied.
“Unless action is taken soon, there could well be more recruitment problems in the NHS, which is the last thing we need.”
According to the NHS staff survey for 2015, which was published yesterday, 76% of respondents at NHS Grampian said they still intended to work for the health board in 12 months.
At NHS Highland, the figure was 75%.
When employees were asked if they would recommend NHS Grampian as a good place to work, 60% responded positively. When asked if they would recommend NHS Highland as a good place to work, just 56% responded positively.
Ms Robison said the report threw up “challenges to be addressed”, but added: “Under this government NHS staff numbers have risen to a record high, with more consultants, nurses and midwives delivering care for the people of Scotland.
“We are also committed to training and retaining our nursing staff which is why we have increased student nursing and midwifery intakes and invested £450,000 over the next three years to reintroduce a national return to practice scheme.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said the figure was an improvement on last year, and added: “As a board we have worked hard to improve the experience of all our employees.”
Deborah Jones, NHS Highland’s chief operating officer, said: “It has been a challenging year for health boards across Scotland and we will continue to work in partnership with professional bodies and trade unions to discuss how we can work more efficiently and further improve the experience of staff working for NHS Highland.”