Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:53 pm on 22 November 2022.

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Photo of Janet Finch-Saunders Janet Finch-Saunders Conservative 1:53, 22 November 2022

Thank you. Trefnydd, as we all know, section 25A of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 does place a duty on local health boards to have sufficient nurses to allow the nurses time to care sensitively for patients wherever nursing services are provided or commissioned. Registered nurse vacancies in Betsi board stood at 736.5 in August this year, up from 541 in November 2020. Now, whilst the staffing level can be achieved in some wards, often this is made up of nurses who are permanent, bank or agency staff. Many agency staff are unable to fulfil certain roles, even though they may be on a relevant band. For example, being able to carry out intravenous work on a patient. This, then, results in other nurses having to do more work to ensure correct patient safety. This is a significant issue. Certainly, in the three hospitals, the larger hospitals, that serve my constituency, getting the right number of nurses on a ward does take precedence over the right nurses with the right training. So, what assurance can you provide that patient safety is not being compromised as a result of these massive nursing shortages that we face? And how many incidents of 'never events'—and that's a term used in the health fraternity—and how many other reportable safety incidents have occurred due to these immense nursing shortages? Diolch.