Nursing Anger As Training Places Slashed
Published: 15 March 2007
Respose to Government Decision To Decreast the Number of Nursing Training Places in Wales
A recent decision by the Welsh Assembly Government has left the leading nursing union angry as the number of training places for nurses and other health professionals has been slashed. The Royal College of Nursing which represents over 22,500 nurses in Wales has called the move short sighted and ill advised.
The figures show that Wales will train over 220 less nurses in 2007 as well as drastically cut the number of nurses training to work in the community. As a result of the government cuts there will be less district nurses and health visitors and the number of school nurses, vital to ensuring children's health, will remain at a standstill.
Responding to the Welsh Assembly Government's decision to decrease the number of training places for nursing students being commissioned in 2007, Tina Donnelly, Director of the Royal College of Nursing Wales said today:
“This news is especially disappointing because RCN Wales has personally asked the Health Minister to increase the number of district nurses, mental health nurses and school health nurses. We have also stated in our Election Manifesto that it is essential that the number of nurses employed in the NHS does not fall. Seventeen percent is a discouraging figure given the severity of the current nurse shortage crisis. Any decrease, no matter how small, in nurses is a cut! The health service needs more nurses not less. The Labour Welsh Assembly Government has promised more but will actually deliver less.
“Additional nursing posts should be commissioned and trained in line with patient needs. Wales is especially vulnerable because of its ageing population and chronic disease rate; this makes it more dependent upon healthcare.”