Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. On behalf of the Petitions Committee, I'm delighted to open the debate on petition P-06-1276, 'Extend section 25B of the Nurse Staffing Levels Act (Wales) 2016'. The text of the petition reads: 

'Nurses across Wales are short of 1,719 highly-skilled life-saving staff members. This means nursing staff give NHS Wales 34,284 extra hours every single week—and it still isn’t enough. Research shows that where there are fewer nurses, patients are 26% more likely to die overall rising to 29% following complicated hospital stays. The Welsh Government should extend Section 25B of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 to give the Welsh public the full team of nurses they desperately need.'

Thank you to the Business Committee for agreeing our request to debate this petition, which has received 10,572 signatures. This petition is part of a broader campaign led by the Royal College of Nursing Wales. They argue that extending section 25B—the section of the Act that relates to the calculation of staffing levels in a range of settings—will save lives.

They point to the progress to date, since the Act was passed in 2016. Wales was the first country in Europe to protect patient care by placing nurse staffing levels into legislation. This was a groundbreaking achievement. By introducing the legislation, attention has been drawn to nursing, changed the behaviour of health boards, and made patients safer. Scotland has followed in Wales's footsteps with the introduction of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019.

The settings covered by section 25B have already been extended. When the law was first passed, section 25B only applied to acute adult medical and surgical wards. On 1 October 2021, it was extended to children’s wards. Campaigners are now arguing that it should apply in all settings where nursing care is provided, starting with community nursing and mental health in-patient wards. I was not a Member when the legislation was introduced, but debate about how far and how fast minimum staffing levels could be extended was a big part of the Bill’s scrutiny journey. It remains a live issue.

In May 2022, RCN Wales published a report on implementation of the legislation. This found that the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 has improved patient care and increased the number of nursing staff on wards covered by section 25B. In the Welsh Government’s letter to the Petitions Committee, the Minister for Health and Social Services describes the premise of the petition's title as flawed and lacking in important legislative context. She also notes the global shortage of nursing staff and the ongoing work to develop more effective workforce planning.

In correspondence to the committee, the RCN argue that today’s debate will allow the Welsh Government an opportunity to outline a timescale for the extension and highlight any barriers and constraints they are currently facing. This would allow the public to have a better understanding of why an extension of section 25B has not yet been possible. I look forward to hearing the arguments on all sides.