Nursing in Scotland’s health service is in “crisis”, a union has warned, as it urged the Scottish Government to come up with a plan to keep more nurses in the profession as the numbers quitting reached a decade high.

The Royal College of Nursing Scotland (RCN) called for the retention strategy among a series of other recommendations as part of its second annual Nursing Workforce in Scotland report, which was released on Wednesday.

Julie Lamberth, RCN Scotland board chairwoman, said: “This report lays bare the full scale of the challenges facing the Scottish Government and employers to scale the nursing workforce crisis”.

She added: “Our highly skilled and dedicated nursing workforce deserve better and the Scottish Government must bring forward sustainable domestic recruitment and retention planning that will turn the tide of persistent nursing shortages.”

As part of the 36-page report, which was released ahead of a roundtable of union members with politicians and nursing leaders, it called for the retention strategy to focus on elements like career progression, flexible working and better support to enable more nursing students to complete their nursing course.

The report made 10 recommendations to the Scottish Government and, as well as improving retention, its demands included taking steps to grow the number of nurses by increasing student places and expanding the routes into the job.

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