Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 31 January 2023.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 1:55, 31 January 2023

Well, the figures I have in front of me around NHS workforce statistics—and this is directly employed staff—is that the workforce is now at record levels. We've got over 105,000 people, 90,943 full-time equivalents, being directly employed by our NHS Wales organisations. All the staff—you go through nurses, you go through medical and dental staff, consultants, registered nurses, registered midwives, scientific, therapeutic, technical staff—I could go on—all the therapists, they're all up over the last three years. I have all the figures in front of me.

We're working very hard to recruit. With my MS hat on, I met the acting chief executive of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board last Friday and listened to what they're doing as a health board to try and attract more staff. A lot of nursing staff in particular put their retirement plans on hold, for instance, when the pandemic struck us, and now, we are seeing more people wanting to take those retirement plans forward. So, it was good to hear from that particular health board of the plans they are taking. You'll be aware of the medical school that we are having in north Wales—so, up in north Wales, there's a great deal of work being done to attract new staff. But it is important that we look internationally as well, as long as it's ethically correct to recruit staff there, and again, I know that health boards are doing that, also.