What discussions has the Minister had about recruiting health care workers from abroad to help meet the shortfall in nurses?
The NHS workforce is now at record levels, with more than 35,000 nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff directly employed by NHS Wales organisations.
The Welsh Government is investing record amounts in healthcare professional education and training – £260m allocated in 2022-23 – providing the highest ever number of training opportunities in Wales. Over the past six years nurse training places have increased by 69%. Training uplifts are shown in the following table.
|
|
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
Nurse training places |
1418 |
1750 |
1911 |
1911 |
1987 |
2202 |
2396 |
Nurse workforce modelling by Health Education and Improvement Wales and NHS Wales organisations will inform future staffing requirements and ensure a sustainable nursing workforce that supports wellbeing and quality of care.
Ensuring healthcare professional students receive a safe and quality experience is vital to personal and professional development. Health boards, NHS trusts, HEIW, universities and other partners are working to develop placement capacity resulting from higher training numbers, including opening new training placements in primary care, social care and the independent sector.
In addition to maximising our domestic supply, a new short-term ethical international nurse recruitment programme has been developed, working with NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership and health boards, to meet current recruitment challenges faced by employers. More than 400 internationally trained nurses will come and work in Wales this year.
I have remitted the NHS Pay Review Body for an appropriate and affordable pay rise for all staff on Agenda for Change, which includes nurses for 2022-23. I have asked the pay review body to take into account the very real cost-of-living challenges when making its recommendations this year.
Through discussions with NHS colleagues at all levels, the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) has gained a deeper understanding of the challenges being faced on a daily basis by those working on the front line and these discussions have been integral in shaping the CNO priorities which were launched on 8 April.