Commenting on the Labour Government’s long-overdue NHS workforce plan for Wales, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said:
“While this plan from Labour is long-overdue, we welcome proposals and timelines to formalise volunteers within the Welsh NHS and end our dependence on agency workers, just as we have been saying for years.
“It is essential we stem the tide of medical staff leaving the Welsh NHS for agency work for the long-term sustainability of public healthcare, but that can only change if Labour ministers end the way they treat staff and the conditions they work in.
“This is not just the opinion of the Welsh Conservatives, but organisations like the Royal College of Nursing who have been infuriated with the Labour Government’s willingness to spend well in excess of £100m every year to cover thousands of nurse vacancies.
“If we cannot get the workforce right, patients will never get the NHS they deserve – it is why, under Labour, Wales has just record its worst-ever A&E and ambulance waits and has Britain’s longest treatment waiting list.”
He added:
“I’m also not sure I would be bragging about spending £20m on an NHS Wales app which has yet to materialise and only trialling e-prescribing when both have been in place in England for years.”
