SNP accused of 'abysmal' workforce planning over unfilled midwifery shifts
Scottish Labour’s Jackie Baillie said the SNP had ‘failed miserably’ to improve the NHS
SNP ministers have been accused of “abysmal” workforce planning after it emerged more than 9,000 midwifery shifts were left unfilled after being put out for agency or bank cover this year.
A freedom of information request by Scottish Labour showed there were 9,232 unfilled midwifery shifts in 2025. This is an increase of 2,992 on the 6,240 unfilled shifts recorded last year.
It comes after the Scottish Government confirmed in November that a national investigation will be launched into maternity services following a series of damning reports across several health boards.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “The SNP’s record on NHS workforce planning has been nothing short of abysmal.
“Hardworking staff are having to pick up the strain as a result of an incompetent SNP government that is failing to provide them with the support they need.
“Scottish Labour will deliver a proper workforce plan for our NHS so that midwives can do the job they are trained to do, and patients get the help they need.
“John Swinney has had 18 years to improve Scotland’s NHS, but he and his colleagues have failed miserably. Scotland needs a new direction.”
There were 3,327 unfilled midwifery shifts in 2019, 2,934 in 2020, 6,449 in 2021, 9,237 in 2022, and 8,401 in 2023.
Among the NHS boards that provided figures, NHS Lothian had the highest number of unfilled midwifery shifts in 2025, with 3,572 - up by 2,443 on the previous year.
A damning report published in October raised “serious concerns” about staffing shortages for maternity care at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
There was also a significant increase in the number of unfilled midwifery shifts at NHS Lanarkshire, from 1,102 in 2024 to 2,267 this year.
Earlier this month, The Scotsman revealed a senior government official had admitted in a private meeting that services were “deteriorating”.
John Harden, the National Clinical Lead for Quality and Safety, told a closed NHS Scotland Executive Group meeting that maternity and neonatal services present a “flat or deteriorating picture”, with a continued increase in C-section rates and associated complications.
Mr Harden also raised “notable changes in neonatal care”, and said transparency and consistency in quality and safety data remained “challenging”.
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “Our utmost priority will always be the safety and wellbeing of mothers and their babies, and we have substantially increased the number of midwives in Scotland, with an 11 per cent increase over the past decade.
“To further strengthen national oversight, I have established a new Scottish Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce which will hear directly from women, family and staff voices. It will play a key role in ensuring lessons are learned and improvements made immediately.
“I have been clear that ongoing improvements are going to be made on the ground through inspections of every maternity unit and we are also delivering the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce recommended actions, which the Royal College of Midwives helped to shape.
“Our NHS staff do incredible work every day, often in very challenging circumstances, and their welfare and mental health is a priority. To support them we invest more than 2.5 million annually in wellbeing programmes such as the National Wellbeing Hub, access to mental health support, psychological interventions, and therapies.
“We also have a compassionate listening service provided by NHS 24.”
Mr Gray previously told MSPs he “nearly lost” his wife during pregnancy after “inaccurate assessments” were carried out.
“I haven’t spoken about this before, but my family knows personally what it is like to suffer pregnancy loss,” the father-of-four said.
“Indeed during that experience, I also very nearly lost my wife due to inaccurate assessments of ectopic pregnancy symptoms, and that stays with me every day.”
Alison MacDonald, executive nurse director for NHS Lothian, said: “Significant investment has been made to improve maternity services in NHS Lothian including recruiting 70 midwives to strengthen compliance with healthcare staffing legislation and build future resilience.”
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