NHS Recruitment in Wales

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 17 March 2020.

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Photo of Angela Burns Angela Burns Conservative 1:32, 17 March 2020

I'd like to just take a tiny liberty with this question, if I may, First Minister, and start off by extending my heartfelt thanks, and I'm sure the thanks of all of us, to our NHS and social care staff, who know that they're about to face the battle of their lives on our behalf, and they are doing so. And I am very grateful for all that they have done and will do. 

And, again, a slight liberty with the word 'recruitment' because, of course, I'd like to talk about the staff and the help that we need now facing the coronavirus. And I just wondered if you could tell us whether—. We've made much about perhaps recruiting or re-recruiting back into the workforce people who've just left us, just retired, and I wondered if you might be able to give us any update on whether you've had thoughts about approaching final-year medical students, final-year nursing students, and obviously their representative bodies, because these people will be very au fait with current policy and they'll certainly be very, very adept at doing ventilators, respiratory work and all the rest of it, and seeing if, perhaps, with their goodwill, and obviously, the right conditions, we might be able to recruit them into helping to supplement our current workforce.