What plans does the Welsh Government have to address the issue facing trainee paramedics, in light of the 67 newly qualified paramedics being informed that there will be no recruitment of qualified staff in 2026 due to financial constraints?
The Welsh Government is working closely with the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST), Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), universities and wider stakeholders to support newly qualified paramedics and improve the alignment between training and employment opportunities. The challenges facing Newly Qualified Paramedics (NQPs) is not limited to Wales there is a restriction in available posts nationally. While responsibility for recruitment rests with WAST, we maintain regular engagement to understand its workforce requirements and recruitment capacity.
The current position reflects a temporary mismatch between the number of graduates and the availability of funded vacancies, driven by financial constraints and service redesign within ambulance services. There are 82 graduates and no available NQP roles within WAST. However, of these, 62 NQPs have been successful in obtaining Emergency Medical Technician roles. With 42 of the NQP’s allocated training courses in September and October and a further 20 are on a reserve list to either replace anyone who withdraws or will be allocated to a course early 2027. As such most of the students have roles in WAST although not in paramedic roles. We are working with key stakeholders across the NHS, education sector and professional bodies to identify other potential solutions. We will convene a stakeholder summit in June to consider immediate actions to support graduates who have not yet secured a post and to identify longer-term measures to reduce the risk of this situation recurring.