Staffing for Safe and Effective Care

The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 was passed in the summer of 2019. This ground-breaking legislation is the first in the UK to set out requirements for safe staffing across both health and care services.

Following sustained pressure from RCN Scotland and its members, in June 2022 the Scottish Government published a timetable for implementation. The timetable sets out a 21-month programme of work which will see the Act come into force from April 2024.

How have we been influencing on behalf of members?

• We’ve been working with Scottish Government to help develop the statutory guidance that will help support effective implementation of the Act
• We are raising the voice of the profession at all stages of the process
• Our input has helped ensure that what matters to our members is included in the draft statutory guidance
• We’ve been working with other key stakeholders to develop the approach to the ‘Test and Learn’ phase of the implementation of the Act 

What will we do over the next 6 months?

• We’ll actively engage with members to help shape an RCN Scotland response to the Scottish Government’s public consultation on the draft statutory guidance. We expect this to happen from May to July 2023
• We’ll encourage members to respond directly to the consultation if they wish, and we’ll provide some guidance on why this will help raise the voice of the nursing profession
• We’ll keep members updated so you know what we’re doing on your behalf
• We’ll continue to be actively involved in the ‘Test and Learn’ phase of the implementation programme and we’ll deliver education and development to members and Reps within the test sites to support robust testing of the duties within the Act.

How can I find out more and get involved?

Members can contact the Policy Team with any questions or comments by email at PolicyScotland@rcn.org.uk

Our aim is to ensure that the voice of nursing is well represented throughout this process. We know that this legislation alone will not fix the nursing workforce crisis. It needs to sit alongside fair pay and improved terms, conditions and culture to ensure we can recruit and retain the nursing workforce Scotland needs right now and in decades to come.

The RCN Nursing Workforce Standards, published in May 2021, are closely aligned to the Act and have been created to explicitly set out what must happen within workplaces to ensure the delivery of safe and effective patient care.

The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act gained Royal Assent on 6 June 2019. It is a ground-breaking piece of legislation as it is the first in the UK to set out requirements for safe staffing across both health and care services and most clinical professions.

The RCN’s ‘Ask for More’ campaign was instrumental in shaping the Act, with the majority of our asks being included.

You can read about how laws are made here and a summary of the legislation here.

The legislation places a number of duties on Health Boards, care providers and Scottish Ministers. If implemented well, it will ensure that nursing staff can raise concerns about staffing levels without fear of repercussions and have these concerns listened to and recorded.

RCN Scotland will be developing a series of resources to help support our members with implementation of this legislation. It is important that nursing staff working in health and social care understand how the legislation will work in practice and what to do if they have concerns about staffing levels.

Check back on this page for updates in the near future.