Scotland has a record shortfall in the number of registered nurses required to staff the NHS, the Royal College of Nursing has warned.

Analysis by the RCN Scotland union found that the difference between the required number of nurses and the full-time equivalent (FTE) who are registered has grown to 3,438.

The gap has risen from 1,613 in June 2015 – a 3.3% difference between the number of nurses needed and the number actually in post – to 7.4% in June of this year.

Official figures published by NHS Education for Scotland reveal that the number of whole-time equivalent staff in post fell by 409 between March and June.