Staffing crisis in Welsh nursing leaves patients at risk, says RCN

The Royal College of Nursing in Wales (RCN) has said that patients are left unsafe due to staffing shortages.

In a recent report, they revealed that 78 per cent of all shifts in Wales do not have the adequate number of registered nurses, leading to patients suffering, sometimes in corridors.

83 per cent said they believed that if there was a maximum patient to nurse ratio in their workplace, then the staffing levels on their last shift at work would have been made safer.

The reason is severe workforce shortages in both hospitals and community services.

According to the RCN's recent 'Last Shift' survey, individual nursing staff are often assigned more patients than what is safely advised.

The survey that provided the above statistics asked Welsh nursing staff about their experiences during their most recent shift.

One anonymous respondent, who works in an NHS hospital in Wales, added to the debate, saying: "We are just providing very basic care due to our environment [and] staff patient ratio.

"Most of the falls happening in the ward [are] because of staff shortage... we can't provide a quality of care."

Executive director of RCN Wales, Helen Whyley, expressed her concerns about the deteriorating situation.

Mrs Whyley said: "These results are sadly not surprising.

"It’s a matter of public record that 1,097 NHS Wales beds were cut between 2012 and 2022 – almost a tenth of its capacity.

"The nursing staffing crisis in Wales has reached critical levels and its endangering patient safety.

"Low nurse-to-patient ratios are directly linked to increased patient mortality."

She further clarified that under the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016, health boards and NHS trusts in Wales are legally accountable for nurse staffing levels in all their services.

Yet, an estimated 2,717 registered nurse vacancies exist across NHS Wales.

Ms Whyley concluded by sending a strong demand to the Welsh Government to extend the Act to protect all patients, value and reward nurses, and fulfil every promise made to their members that lead to the end of their industrial action.

She concluded: "The solution to this crisis starts with valuing nursing staff and giving them the time to care."