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The target intake for funded places on nursing and midwifery undergraduate programmes has increased for 10 consecutive years. Recognising that undergraduate programmes are not the single solution to developing and increasing the workforce, the Scottish Government has agreed with Higher Education Institutions, NHS Boards and other key partners, to maintain the target intake of 4,837 (4536 nursing and 301 midwifery) for 3 years. Funded places will continue to be monitored annually whilst we work collaboratively with those partners to maximise the places that are filled and explore alternative pipelines into these critical professions such as earn as you learn routes and apprenticeships.

In June 2022 the then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Humza Yousef published a timetable for the implementation of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 on both the Healthcare Improvement Scotland website and Care Inspectorate website .

This timetable is still valid although it is noted the guidance consultation period is now due to start in June 2023, rather than May 2023.

Ministers and Scottish Government officials regularly meet with representatives of all professional partners, including Royal College of Occupational Therapists, to discuss matters of importance to the professions of which they represent.

The Scottish Government has no role in setting the levels or assessing the impact on individuals of registration fees for the regulated health professions. These functions are within the statutory authority of the Councils of the independent UK regulators, including the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). In common with the other regulatory bodies, the HCPC’s establishing legislation requires it to publicly consult as part of the process for assessing the level of fees which will enable it to carry out its statutory public protection duty.

The Scottish Government recognises the unwelcome additional burden that higher fees will place on registrants, especially during the current financial climate. However, we acknowledge that the HCPC - as a registrant-funded independent regulator – is facing the same cost pressures as other organisations.

The nursing student intake targets by academic year are listed in the following table.

The Scottish Government alongside a wide range of stakeholders including health and social care partners, NHS Education for Scotland, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and Skills Development Scotland, is taking forward work to develop alternative career pathways into nursing including potential apprenticeship models and other ‘earn as you learn’ routes. These pathways have the potential to widen access into the profession to those individuals wishing to pursue a career in nursing but may not choose the undergraduate route and to those individuals already employed in NHS Boards or the care home sector, allowing people to study and work at the same time whilst accessing education to progress their career. We already know that many Healthcare Support Workers are seeking career progression and some have entered the second year of an undergraduate programme after being supported by their employer and the Scottish Government to complete an HNC whilst working. We are exploring what more can be done to showcase these routes for existing staff whilst also attracting new employees to our NHS by enabling them to understand the opportunities available to develop and progress towards registered roles.

NHS Lothian are currently piloting a traineeship approach with HEI partners for new staff and early indications show high levels of interest and staff retention.

Over the last two years our £1bn increased investment in our Agenda for Change staff has seen a Nurse at the top of Band 5 receive an uplift of 14.4% - more than £4,700

We recognise the need to modernise our service for both our current and future workforce and so we are undertaking a review of the Agenda for Change system in conjunction with Staff Side and NHS Scotland Employers. In addition, a bespoke Nursing and Midwife Task Force expert group has been set up to improve working conditions for nurses and boost workforce numbers

Work is underway to implement the Health and Care (Staffing) Act by Spring 2024 to support the wellbeing of Health and Care staff and Patients. Specifically, it aims to ensure appropriate staffing levels are in place to support high quality care for patients and service users.

As per standardised Terms and Conditions, the Scottish Government expects NHS Scotland Agenda for Change staff, including nurses, to be paid in full any amounts due for all the hours they work.

The Scottish Government welcomes the publication and recommendations of The Nursing Workforce in Scotland report by RCN Scotland.

NHS Boards are responsible for ensuring they have local policies in place to recruit effectively and retain their staff. They are supported in this through the Scottish Government’s National Workforce Strategy, which sets out the actions it will take in partnership with Boards to plan, attract, train, employ and nurture the health and social care workforce.

This has included completing a review of career pathways for healthcare support workers and publishing a national education and development framework, in November 2022, which provides information on how to progress into a registered practitioner role.

Our recently established Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce will also build on efforts to make Scotland the best place for nurses and midwives to work by developing plans for recruitment and retention. The Nursing Workforce in Scotland Report, and its recommendations, will be considered by the taskforce as a part of its work.

Over the summer we will continue to work with stakeholders, including the Royal College of Nursing, to develop a Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan.

The Scottish Government, through the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care, has set out a number of short, medium and longer term actions that seek to progressively improve the quality of our health and social care workforce data, and its analysis. Further detail is set out in Part III of the strategy, 'Action', which can be found at: National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in Scotland (www.gov.scot)