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Welsh Govt on Francis report

The Welsh Government spells out hospital staff can do more to make sure that no patient is neglected and everyone is treated with dignity, compassion and respect.

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£10 million for extra nurses to improve hospital care

The Welsh Government says it will spend an extra £10 million recruiting more nurses as part of its response to the Francis report on patient neglect. The announcement was made in the Senedd this evening.

AMs were debating the action ministers need to take to make sure that there is no repetition in Wales of the events that led to the deaths of patients in mid-Staffordshire. The funding will be shared between the seven Welsh health boards.

  • Abertawe Bro Morgannwg £1.8 million
  • Aneurin Bevan £1.9 million
  • Betsi Cadwaladr £2.2 million
  • Cardiff and Vale £1.4 million
  • Cwm Taf £1.1 million
  • Hywel Dda £1.3 million
  • Powys £0.4 million
  • TOTAL £10 million

Safe and compassionate care clearly can’t be produced simply by systems and measurements. It depends, fundamentally, on people. Staff are the greatest resource of the NHS and the staffing we need for the future has to match changing patterns of need. Our hospital in-patient population now consists predominantly of older people, often with a complex mixture of social and clinical conditions. The Chief Nursing Officer is leading work to introduce a new way of determining the number of nurses needed on any ward, to meet those needs.

Work so far has concentrated on acute medical and surgical wards. It shows that we need more nurses and healthcare support workers, in order to reach the staffing levels we will need in future.I recognise that meeting these new requirements of the post-Francis world comes at a cost. I am therefore very pleased to announce today that an additional £10 million will be provided in the current financial year, to allow Health Boards to accelerate their plans to secure acute medical and surgical ward nurses.

– Health Minister Mark Drakeford AM

The minister committed himself to providing the £10 million in future years as well. It is expected to pay for about 290 extra nurses. It will be additional money for the health boards but will have to be found from within the overall health budget, which will be re-examined.

I welcome this review, which is a step forward in recognising the devastating impact that Labour’s record-breaking NHS cuts are having on frontline NHS services. This review will give the Welsh Government an evidence-based assessment of the needs of the Welsh NHS ahead of the next Budget round, in which Labour has already pencilled in further cuts to the health budget. While we welcome £10million for specialist nurses, it is disappointing that this is not new money and simply being transferred from another part of the health budget.

– Leader of the Opposition Andrew RT Davies AM
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Welsh Govt on Francis report

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