NINE in 10 Scottish nurses say their workload has worsened and more than three-quarters say NHS finances have deteriorated, the Royal College of Nursing revealed yesterday as its conference gets under way in Glasgow today.

The RCN survey also found that almost one-third (30.2 per cent) of nurses in Scotland said that the health service needs an urgent upgrade.

A total of 62.5 per cent of Scottish nurses reported a struggle for hospital beds, with only 12.8 per cent saying the NHS is able to meet demand.

RCN Scotland director Theresa Fyffe said: “This survey clearly shows how much pressure nursing staff are experiencing on a daily basis because of rising demand, made worse by the financial position of many of our health boards.”

Ms Fyffe warned that it was “not realistic to think that health boards can deliver the same services to more and more people, and achieve the ongoing efficiency savings demanded by government.”

She raised concerns that “without urgent transformation to how health services are delivered in Scotland, there’s a risk of a return to the bad old days of ‘boom and bust,’ with health boards targeting the nursing workforce for cuts simply to balance the books.”

Ms Fyffe urged managers not to use nursing shortages and the need for agency nurses as “an excuse” to downgrade pay or replace registered nurses with unregistered staff in a bid to drive down costs, as it would hit patient care.