NURSING vacancies in Wales are at critical levels, and present a major threat to the ability of the NHS meet safe staffing requirements for patient care.

That is the warning from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Wales, which believes that quality of care for patients is under pressure.

The organisation, which represents nurses in Wales, has produced ‘The Nursing Workforce in Wales 2019’, an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the nursing workforce.

The RCN in Wales says evidence of the nursing shortage in the NHS and the independent sector is stark, with at least 1651 nursing vacancies across the NHS, and care home providers reporting significant gaps in their registered nursing workforce.

Last year, the NHS in Wales spent £63.8m on agency nursing, a rise of 24% since last year. This is the equivalent salary spend of 2,635 newly qualified nurses.

The South Wales Argus reported earlier this month that Aneurin Bevan University Health Board spent £7.3m on agency nurses in 2018/19, and that if spending so far this year continues at the current rate, the bill for 2019/20 will be £9m.

In May, the health board reported 310 whole time equivalent (wte) registered nurse vacancies across its services, an overall rate of almost nine per cent, though this did not make it an outlier in Wales.

“The Welsh NHS continues to rely on the goodwill of registered nurses," said Helen Whyley, director of the RCN in Wales.

"Our members have said that 76 per cent of them are working work overtime at least once a week, with a majority reporting between one and four hours.

"Worryingly, only 50 per cent of them are being paid for these extra hours. Nurses are overworked and under pressure, and I am very concerned that this continued pressure will result in burn out and ultimately nurses leaving nursing.

“The lack of adequate nursing staff is a real threat to the ability of the NHS in Wales to meet the requirements of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016, the first legislation of its kind in Europe that seeks to ensure sufficient nurses to care for patient sensitively.

"Wales needs more registered nurses to deliver that care, and it needs to plan ahead to ensure the numbers are increased in both the short and the long term. This means continuing to increase student nursing numbers and urgent measures to safeguard international recruitment and address retention.”

“RCN Wales is recommending a number of measures the Welsh Government should take to address the shortage of registered nurses in the NHS and independent sector.

"These include increasing opportunities for nurses to work more flexible hours, providing access to continuous professional development (CPD) and strong career frameworks.

"The Welsh Government needs to consider our report and embrace its recommendations, to ensure that the significant contribution nursing can make to their ‘Healthier Wales’ policy is realised."