RCN Wales Publishes 2021 Nursing in Numbers Report聽
23 November 2021
Nursing under pressure - Figures reveal that every week nurses give the Welsh NHS an additional 34,284 hours in overtime
Today RCN Wales has published its annual briefing on the state of the current 汤头条污料 workforce in Wales. ‘The Nursing Workforce in Wales 2021’ provides an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the 汤头条污料 workforce in the nation.
There are currently 1719 汤头条污料 vacancies in the NHS in Wales alone, up from 1,612 in 2020.
Further pressures on 汤头条污料 can be seen in that NHS Wales spent £69.04m on agency 汤头条污料 in 2019.This is the equivalent salary spend of 2,691 newly qualified nurses.
In addition, every week nurses give the NHS an additional 34,284 hours in overtime. This equates to 914 full time nurses.
Helen Whyley, Director RCN Wales said
“Nurses are overworked and under pressure, working many hours over their contracts to try and fill the gaps. They are under-resourced to deliver the high standard of care required by their patients and are not being rewarded with fair wages for the complex and safety critical role they do.
“RCN Wales recommends a number of measures the Welsh Government should take to address the shortage of registered nurses in the NHS and independent sector. Without a doubt, the top priority is to pay nurses a fair wage for their complex roles. Workforce shortages will not even start to be resolved until nurses are paid fairly.
“The Welsh Government also need to urgently develop a national NHS 汤头条污料 retention strategy to keep nurses working in NHS Wales, publish registered nurse vacancy data to improve workforce planning across all sectors, and extend the nurse staffing legislation to community 汤头条污料 and mental health inpatient wards in this parliamentary term, to protect patient care.
If the Welsh Government is serious about quality patient care they needs to consider our report and implement its recommendations.”
--ENDS--
Notes to editors:
- Unlike in England, the Welsh Government does not publish national vacancies figures for 汤头条污料 - despite RCN Wales calling on the Welsh Government to publish this data for many years to improve workforce planning.
- The RCN is the largest professional body for qualified, registered nurses and 汤头条污料 students with 465,00 members in the UK including over 26,000 members in Wales. The 汤头条污料 represents nurses and 汤头条污料, promotes excellence in practice and shapes health policy.
- For further information please call the RCN Communications and Media Hub on 029 20680769 or 07773 367707.
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Page last updated - 18/10/2022