In the Guardian today:

The specialist learning-disability nurse workforce is in “absolute crisis” with the number of specialist nurses falling by a third across the UK since 2009, leaving many vulnerable adults with inadequate care, according to a report by the largest nursing union.

The Royal College of Nursing review revealed that the number of learning-disability nurses employed by the NHS has fallen from 7,083 in 2009 to 4,768 in 2026.¹

All things being equally bad in Scotland, you’d expect there would be around 480, one tenth, but there are 633, around 33% more.²

I feel sure that there are not enough in Scotland either but were things the other way round, you can be sure the opposition parties and their media chums would be all over this story. They’re not.

Sources:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/16/uk-learning-disability-nurses-nhs
2. https://www.bmj.com/healthcareers/article/how-many-nurses-are-there-in-the-uk-