Figures reveal vacancies in Fife care services

A report by the Care Inspectorate and Scottish Social Services Council and published last week found that in 2023:

• 46% of care services in Fife reported vacancies, and 60% reported nursing vacancies.
• 70% of services in Fife said that they found vacancies hard to fill, compared to 63% across Scotland.
• There were 395 whole-time equivalent vacancies in Fife. This represented a vacancy rate of 8.5%, higher than the Scotland-wide figure of 7.5%.
• The vacancy rate amongst nursing staff was 13.4% whole-time-equivalent.

Willie Rennie said: “Too many people are waiting too long for the care they need, and in many cases this prevents them from being discharged from hospital.

“These alarming figures show the scale of the pressure on care staff in Fife, with a high rate of vacancies and widespread difficulties finding enough staff.

“The SNP government wasted four years and £30 million attempting a bureaucratic takeover of social care that was never going to fix core problems. Now they have finally ditched their plans, it’s time to finally invest in the staff and services who need help now.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats have proposed a new minimum wage for care workers that is £2 higher. That could begin to help get people the care at home or in the community that they need, as well as freeing up space in hospitals and help everyone get seen faster.”