3. Will the First Minister make a statement on the effectiveness of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016? OQ58729

There have been some tangible benefits of introducing the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016, including increased funding and a strengthened nursing voice from ward to board level. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and an ongoing global shortage of nursing staff have inevitably proved a challenge to the health boards' implementation of the Act.

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.

I'm afraid I don't have an answer to your last question about never events. I would ask you to write to the Minister for Health and Social Services in relation to that.

As I said in my opening answer to you, there is a global shortage of nursing staff; this isn't just unique to Wales or the UK. We are working very hard to ensure that we have as many health service staff as possible across our health boards, and we have seen an increase, certainly, in the NHS workforce. It's now at record levels in some areas. The full-time equivalent of all-staff figure is 88,638 right across Wales, which is 12 per cent higher than it was three years ago.

Trefnydd, I recently visited the new health education innovation centre at Wrexham Glyndŵr University, where they have now expanded to offer nursing and allied health degrees. This opens up a world of opportunities for students to become nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists, speech therapists—it's fantastic, the offer now—and also for existing health employees to retrain and reskill with the latest technology and wonderful facilities. It's proving really popular, and they're going to do an extra intake in January.

First Minister, I know how rewarding a career in nursing can be, and I'd like to say that my nurse has just made a career change to study to become a mental health nurse there, and is really enjoying the course. Will you help promote nursing as a career, and ensure that the Welsh Government continues to do all it can to support people into a career in the health services? Also, the bursary is really welcomed in Wales. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm obviously—as it's in my constituency—very well aware of the new health education innovation quarter at Glyndŵr university and I think it's really important. We have similar provision down in Swansea, so it's great to have it in north Wales as well, because we do know, don't we, that where people train, they often stay in that area. So, that will obviously help with retention and bringing in staff to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board as well, I would have thought. Obviously, as a Government, we're very keen to promote nursing as a career; it's a very rewarding career, and we will continue to do all we can to promote it.