The SNP Government has been warned it can no longer adopt a "sticking plaster approach" to workforce issues in the NHS.
Labour hit out after it was a revealed one-fifth of consultant haematologists in Scotland are due to retire in the next three years.
The specialists provide a vital role in the health service by diagnosing and treating blood disorders and cancer. But figures from the British Society for Haematology found that 20 per cent are now nearing the end of their careers.
Jackie Baillie has now raised the issue SNP ministers and urged them to plan accordingly. The Scottish Labour health spokeswoman told the Record: "Scotland’s NHS workforce is at breaking point due to SNP-made chaos in our health service.
"Scottish Labour has previously warned about the sticking plaster approach being taken by SNP ministers towards staffing levels, while failing to provide a long-term solution.
"Our NHS urgently needs a change in direction and a change in government. A Scottish Labour government will do whatever it takes to fix our NHS."
Neil Gray, the Health Secretary, said: "Since 2014, the Scottish Government has funded the creation of hundreds of additional specialty training places in Scotland, including in haematology.
"We also want to improve workforce planning further and our Future Medical Workforce project will allow us to hear directly from doctors and make improvements to the medical education pipeline, ensuring we can continue to deliver the medical workforce Scotland needs."
It comes as the chief executive of NHS Scotland was criticised after failing to visit a single hospital in the space of a year. Caroline Lamb - who earns £200,000 a year - met with staff at Forth Valley Royal last July but has not set foot in another ward since.
Lamb, who trained as a chartered accountant, has only visited sites 25 times since she was appointed chief executive in January 2021.
Baillie said: "It is a dereliction of her duties to not see first-hand what hardworking frontline staff are having to face every day — from lengthy A&E waiting lists, crumbling hospitals, and people waiting years to get operations."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The Director General for Health & Social Care is in daily contact with senior NHS leaders and meets with NHS staff, local patients and carers."
John Swinney previously promised Scots he would “fix” the NHS when he became First Minister.
It was previously reported that 40 senior NHS bosses now earn more than Swinney. Some 65 health board chiefs take home six-figure salaries, with top earner Paul Bachoo, of Grampian, on £252,500.
It means scores of NHS bosses are raking in a combined £10million a year while patients endure lengthy backlogs for treatment.
Labour MSP Carol Mochan said: “Millions is spent propping up a web of bureaucracy while frontline services are struggling to cope."
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here
