What urgent steps is the Cabinet Minister taking to increase the number of midwifery training places in light of the 'Path to Safer Beginnings in Wales' report?
The Welsh Government recognises the importance of ensuring a sustainable midwifery workforce, drawing on the findings of the Path to Safer Beginnings in Wales report as well as wider assurance work across maternity and neonatal services. The findings will help inform the development of our new national workforce plan for the NHS, which will be published in the autumn.
Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) advise the Welsh Government each year on the number of education and training places required through its national Education and Training Plan. This advice is informed by workforce modelling, service demand, training capacity and affordability considerations.
The current position reflects the need to balance long-term workforce requirements with short-term system pressures. While there remains clear and ongoing need for midwives, some commissioning decisions have been influenced by temporary financial constraints within NHS organisations and tighter controls on vacancy release. These factors can affect the ability of health boards to employ newly qualified staff immediately on qualification, rather than indicating a reduction in long-term demand for the profession.
As a new Government, we will be reviewing this position based on further engagement with relevant organisations and officials. In the meantime, I will shortly be convening a summit to consider both immediate actions to support the ability of recently graduated midwives to secure employment, and what more can be done to avoid similar shortfalls in graduate opportunities in the future. This is the first step in a wider programme of work to ensure that Wales is better able to retain the great wealth of talent it nurtures.
It is also important to maintain a stable pipeline of training places over time. Evidence shows that significant changes to commissioning levels can introduce risks to future workforce supply, service quality and the ability to respond to emerging service needs, including those identified through maternity safety and assurance reviews.
In light of this, I have asked officials to work with HEIW and NHS partners to keep these commissioning decisions under close review. This includes:
• reviewing midwifery commissioning levels with HEIW, including the evidence and assumptions on which they are based;
• ensuring that the findings of the Path to Safer Beginnings in Wales report, alongside other maternity service reviews, are reflected in future workforce planning;
• working with NHS organisations to strengthen the transition from training into employment, so that newly qualified midwives can take up roles as promptly as possible; and
• maintaining sufficient flexibility within commissioning arrangements to respond to changing workforce requirements and wider system pressures.
The Welsh Government will continue to work with HEIW and NHS partners to ensure that decisions on training places are informed by robust evidence, are taken transparently, and support the long-term sustainability of a safe and effective midwifery workforce in Wales.