\n The figures show there are 1,165 whole-time equivalent (WTE) consultant vacancies across Scottish health boards, representing a vacancy rate of 16.8%.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, statistics published by NHS Education<\/a> for Scotland (NES) for the equivalent period in September 2025 recorded 447 WTE consultant vacancies, a rate of 6.7%.\n<\/p>\n \n The BMA says the discrepancy arises from how vacancies are counted.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cTheir numbers undercount the vacancies and it\u2019s the way that the data is collected,” Dr Bredski explained, \u201cNHS Education for Scotland just counts jobs that are cleared to be advertised but haven\u2019t been recruited into yet whereas when we do our Freedom of Information requests, we ask for that but also ask for posts that have been sitting vacant for so long that nobody is bothering to try and recruit into them any more and we collect data about posts that are partially covered by locums including locums who don\u2019t actually have full consultant qualification.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n \n Asked if they want the Scottish Government<\/a> to prioritise their figures when assessing the workforce crisis, Dr Bredski said: \u201cYes, that\u2019s fair to say and if you don\u2019t look at the accurate information about the current workforce, you can\u2019t properly inform your workforce plan.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n The Scottish Government is currently developing the next phase of its medical workforce plan, following the publication of the first stage of the Future Medical Workforce report.\n<\/p>\n \n Dr Bredski said the initial report had been encouraging but warned that the crucial test would be whether the next phase delivered practical solutions.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThe first phase of the future medical work force report of the Scottish Government workforce plan was really brave and really honest.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIt did talk about the problems that did exist in the NHS for staff and patients as a consequence but the next phase is actually planning to improve the situation through, hopefully, proper workforce planning and you need to do that on the basis of the evidence.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n However, she said it remained unclear how quickly the next stage would progress.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI honestly think it remains to be seen. I\u2019m encouraged by the first phase report\u2026I do not know what the next is going to look like.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n The next phase of the work is due to begin, but Dr Bredski said there was uncertainty about the timetable.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThe election will get in the way of a lot of things. There was a stakeholder meeting in the last couple of weeks\u2026but I do not know a timescale. It\u2019s work is intended to be done at pace.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n She warned that rapid action was essential given the growing strain on staff across the NHS.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely crucial. On the ground, it just gets more and more difficult and you don\u2019t have to look very far to see the rates of burnout amongst consultants and other healthcare workers are experiencing. There\u2019s sickness absences amongst healthcare staff which is at the highest it\u2019s ever been. The pressures have never been higher. Moral injury is everywhere and vacancies just compound that.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWe need to have the right number of consultants, the right number of other healthcare professionals and we need to be going to our jobs able to do our best but not burn out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n The shortages are particularly acute in rural areas and in certain medical specialties.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThere\u2019s consultant vacancies across Scotland but they are worse in the rural boards and they are worse in certain specialities. I\u2019m a psychiatrist and consultant vacancies in psychiatry are particularly high so it does hit some specialties more than others and some places more than others but it does hit us all.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n BMA Scotland\u2019s data indicates that the largest numbers of vacancies are in some of Scotland\u2019s biggest health boards, including Lanarkshire (180), Lothian (144), Dumfries and Galloway (119) and Greater Glasgow and Clyde (101).\n<\/p>\n \n Vacancy rates are particularly severe in rural and island health boards, including the Western Isles (76%), Shetland<\/a> (64%), Dumfries and Galloway (57%) and Orkney<\/a> (44%).\n<\/p>\n \n Overall consultant vacancies have risen since the last time the BMA collated the figures, when 1,003 WTE posts were unfilled in 2025, representing a 14.4% vacancy rate.\n<\/p>\n \n Nearly one in four posts for specialty, associate specialist and specialist (SAS) doctors are also vacant, with a vacancy rate of 22%.\n<\/p>\n \n Dr Bredski said the staffing crisis was contributing directly to long waiting lists for treatment and leaving doctors struggling to provide the level of care they want to deliver.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cTo get on top of waiting lists, you need to have enough staff to see the patients. We are sitting with really lengthy waiting lists. Yes, some of them have come down but from extraordinarily to still pretty extraordinarily long.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cNot only is that a big problem for patients waiting for appropriate care and treatment, it is very difficult for the staff on the ground all day every day. We are having to apologise for delays in care and treatment that are not caused by us as individuals. We are unable to give the care and treatment to our patients that we really want to give.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n She said many clinicians now felt they were being asked to operate in conditions that did not feel safe.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cDoctors and other healthcare workers are being required to do work which is impossible. It does not feel like good and safe practice and what that feels like to the individual is a sense of being unsafe and moral injury.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIt almost feels like we are being asked to accept working in these appalling conditions. It\u2019s not inevitable and it\u2019s not necessary. You don\u2019t need to go very far to see countries with health systems that are better resourced and where senior doctors are paid better and health outcomes are better.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Dr Bredski called on ministers to act urgently to address the staffing crisis.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cPull on every available lever to get these vacancies filled now and do the workforce planning at pace at a really high quality so that we have help right now when we need it and so that we have really good plans for the future so our services are sustainable and our staffing is sustainable.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n She also urged political parties to prioritise the NHS ahead of the forthcoming election.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cHealth is just about always amongst the top three priorities for voters and rightly and people are in the main proud and supportive that we have the NHS that we have in this country.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThere may be for some people acceptance of the way things are because austerity has affected us all but I simply do not believe that is true. I think it\u2019s possible to have a vastly better health service and people living longer and having fewer rates of cancer and other preventable conditions if we invest at the right level and in the right ways. We should aspire to do that.\u201d\n<\/p>\nJoanna Bredski, chair of BMA Scotland\u2019s Consultant Committee. (Image: BMA)\n<\/p>\n