Nursing staff in Scotland are under “enormous pressure” – and are too busy to provide the level of care they’d like to.

Those are among the findings from a new survey.

The Royal College of Nursing’s annual employment survey found 60% of staff felt they were under too much pressure.

More than half of nurses work beyond their contracted hours on every shift – while more than one in three said they’ve experienced bullying.

Over 4000 posts in the health service have been left vacant this year, adding further stress.

RCN’s Scotland director, Theresa Fyffe, said:

“Across both acute and community settings, there are simply too few nursing staff and working in such a depleted workforce is like having an arm and a leg tied behind your back,”

“Nursing staff really need the long-anticipated Integrated Workforce Plan to match Scottish Government’s stated aspirations for the health and care workforce, but it’s now more than 12 months overdue.”