Fears have been raised that the NHS faces an exodus of key staff after it emerged that more than 1,700 Scottish nurses have sought permission to work abroad in recent years.
New figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council show that hundreds of nurses who live in Scotland or were trained in the country are applying each year to leave.
Of the 1,744 nurses applying for verification between 2012/13 and 2016/17, almost 1,200 had an address in Scotland, while just over 1,600 were trained north of the border.
The statistics follow a Royal College of Nursing survey last month which showed 36% of members were looking for a new job, while 40% said money worries were making them lose sleep.
Meanwhile, the latest figures show the nursing and midwifery vacancy rate at 4.5% in Scotland.
The Scottish Conservatives, who highlighted the figures, said action must be taken to encourage vital staff to stay in NHS Scotland.
Tory MSP Miles Briggs said: “It’s extremely worrying that hundreds of nurses every year signal their intention to leave and work abroad.
“At a time when recruitment is so challenging, the last thing we need is Scottish-trained nurses upping sticks and moving elsewhere.
“Clearly more needs to be done to incentivise them to stay, otherwise patients and the staff left behind will be the ones who suffer the consequences.
“The SNP can’t point the finger elsewhere – it must try to attract nurses who’ve left back to Scotland, and do more to make sure others don’t leave in the first place.
“In an organisation the size of the NHS there will always be departures to work overseas, but for more than 1600 to have indicated they want to leave in the past five years is alarming.”
The statistics follow revelations in October that 3,000 Scottish-trained doctors have left the country since 2008.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “This government has delivered an all-time record high number of staff in Scotland’s NHS -including more nurses.
“But Brexit – and the UK Government’s determination to end free movement of workers – threatens our ability to continue to secure skilled staff for our health service.”