More than £230m has been paid out to bank and agency nurses in the NHS in one year, according to figures published by Scottish Labour.

There are also currently 6700 vacancies in nursing and midwifery across the NHS and the care sector.

The figures showed that spending by NHS Scotland on bank staff in the 12 months up to the end of March 2021 amounted to £196.7m.

Colin Poolman, director of the Royal College of Nursing said: “I think it’s a symptom of where we find ourselves, there’s just not enough nurses to fill the shifts that are required to be filled.”

Spending on bank staff has risen by 128.3% over the last decade, NHS Scotland workforce statistics showed.

Meanwhile, spending on agency staff in the year to the end of March 2021 amounted to £39.3m – with this total having risen by 802.3% since 2011.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Politics Matters