Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 12 May 2022
I thank my colleague Jackie Baillie for bringing this important debate to the chamber and I, too, welcome international nurses day, which, as has been mentioned, is marked on the anniversary of the birthday of Florence Nightingale. The debate offers us the opportunity to commend the work of our nurses, highlight the impact that they have on our society and pay tribute to them for the work that they carried out throughout the pandemic.
Our nurses are the best of our country—I will touch more on that later in my speech. However, in Scotland we have a situation in which nurses feel undervalued, overworked and underpaid. They feel as though the pressures of the workplace have become too much during the pandemic, with vacancies not being filled, agency staff being used more often than normal and staff shortages meaning that others have to double—or sometimes treble—their workload. It would therefore simply be wrong of us to debate the motion without highlighting the clear and fundamental challenges that face nurses and nursing more widely.
As on many issues, the Scottish Government certainly talks a good game, but, when it comes to action, it falls short. I have spoken to many constituents in my South Scotland region who tell me, time and again, that the challenges facing our hospitals and care settings are like none that they have ever seen before.