Thirty-six organisations come together to call on the Welsh government to publish its national workforce implementation plan for health and care.
As the latest monthly NHS Wales waiting times for hospital treatment are published, 36 organisations from across health and social care, including royal colleges, charities, patient groups and professional bodies, have come together to sign a joint letter to the first minister, calling on the Welsh government to publish the long-awaited national workforce implementation plan for health and care.
Serious challenges face the NHS as we head into a difficult winter, and the impact of workforce shortages on patient care cannot be underestimated as waiting times reach record levels in Wales. Cancer lists and ambulance performance times are currently the worst on record, and overall, waiting list numbers passed 750,000 for the first time in October 2022.
More than 6 months after the launch of the planned care recovery plan (which promised a workforce implementation plan), and as we head into what is likely to be the most difficult winter in the history of the NHS, we are still flying blind, with little to no reliable up-to-date workforce data and no national implementation plan for the recruitment and retention of NHS and social care staff.
