North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called on the First Minister to respond to concerns raised by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Wales regarding the nursing crisis facing North Wales.
Speaking in the Welsh Parliament today, Mr Isherwood referred to an RCN Wales report which states that “the nursing workforce in Wales is facing a national crisis” and challenged the First Minister, Mark Drakeford, over the questions RCN Wales have posed to the Welsh Government in the context of North Wales.
He said:
“Last week, nearly four years after the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 received Royal Assent, your Health Minister issued a short Statement stating only that the All-Wales Nurse Staffing Programme ‘is driving the exploratory work of extending the 2016 Act’.
“At the end of last month, the Royal College of Nursing in Wales launched its ‘Progress and Challenge’ report on the implementation of the Act, which said that ‘the nursing workforce in Wales is facing a national crisis’. ‘The high number of vacancies’, estimated by them at around 1,600 minimum, ‘are compounded by greater shortages in the care home sector and the prospect of significant losses to retirement over the next five to 10 years’.
“How, therefore, does the Welsh Government - do you - respond to the questions they posed for the Welsh Government in the context of North Wales? How are the ‘special measure’ arrangements for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board monitoring and supporting the board to be compliant with the Act? Will you increase student nursing numbers, as the Health Board has requested, and will you support the placement of non-commissioned student nurses from Glyndŵr University, as the Health Board has requested?”
Instead of answering these questions from RCN Wales, the First Minister referred to his attendance at “the RCN event to celebrate the passing onto the statute book of the Safe Nurse Staffing Act here in Wales and everything that has been done since to make sure that there are the right number of nurses in the right set of circumstances on every ward”.
He also blamed “the impact that Brexit is having— another party policy of his Party—particularly an impact in North Wales”.
Speaking outside the Chamber, Mr Isherwood added: “This was a disgraceful response, when I was quoting directly from RCN Wales’ ‘Safe Staffing Progress Report’ after attending its launch on 27th November and the questions I asked were RCN Wales’ own ‘Questions for the Welsh Government’ taken straight from it”.
