Scotsman articles highlight Scottish nursing "crisis"

April 22, 2003 -- A piece by David Scott in The Scotsman dated today describes efforts to address the severe nursing shortage now affecting patient care in Scotland. The article focuses on government efforts to provide higher pay and better working conditions for Scottish nurses to prevent them from being lured away by English "foundation" hospitals, which could make the Scottish nursing shortage even worse. Two Scotsman articles dated March 11 discussed the severity of the shortage, with one (unsigned) piece citing a Royal College of Nursing (RCN) estimate of a shortfall of 15,000 nurses over the next five years. The other article by Tara Womersley quoted Tracey McFall, the chairwoman of RCN Scotland, as saying that "[n]ursing in Scotland is in crisis. Seven out of ten nurses in Scotland say there are not enough nurses to provide a good standard of care, and the workload is a major reason why nurses are leaving the [National Health Service]."