What assessment has the Cabinet Minister made of the impact of not recruiting newly qualified midwives will have on safe maternity staffing levels across NHS Wales?
All health boards in Wales are expected to be staffed to Birthrate Plus standards, which is a nationally recognised, NICE endorsed assessment model for midwifery staffing.
In response to the current challenges facing some newly qualified healthcare professionals, I convened a Graduate Summit on 18 June, bringing together NHS Wales organisations, Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), universities and professional bodies to agree immediate and longer-term actions.
Following the Summit, partners agreed an all-Wales approach to maximise employment opportunities for affected graduates, strengthen graduate transition and support arrangements, increase flexibility in deployment, and improve workforce planning and intelligence to better align future training commissions with workforce requirements. These actions are intended both to support newly qualified midwives into employment and to help ensure a sustainable pipeline of staff for maternity services in future years.