Potential nurses in India are the target of a recruitment drive (Image: Rob Browne)
Labour is accused of staging recruitment drives for healthcare workers abroad while allowing a major university to stop training nurses.
There is outcry that Cardiff University has proposed stopping teaching nursing at the same time the Labour Welsh Government is persuading Indian nurses to join the NHS.
The Labour administration signed an agreement with the Government of Kerala in India to “facilitate the recruitment of qualified healthcare professionals from India to Wales”. More than 300 people have taken up positions in the Welsh NHS and “additional international recruitment” is planned this year.
James Evans, a Conservative member of the Welsh Parliament, stated in a letter to Jeremy Miles, the Welsh Health Secretary: “The Royal College of Nursing has said that we are short of more than 2,000 registered nurses. This shortage considerably increases the risk of hospital readmission and patient mortality.
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“However I am astonished that you have decided to address this problem by recruiting nurses from India and the Philippines while at the same time the education minister is allowing Cardiff University to close its training course for nurses.
“There are many people in Wales who would very much like to train as nurses. The answer is to train more people within Wales on courses like the one in Cardiff, not to close down opportunities for people in Wales and bring people in from developing countries.”
Cardiff University has proposed axing 400 academic posts and closing programmes including nursing.
Mr Evans said: “We have ever-increasing, record-high NHS waiting lists, a workforce crisis and a reliance on nurses from overseas. Yet Labour ministers are allowing Wales’ biggest university’s nursing course to be cut. This is the wrong approach.”
Wales’ international recruitment programme has resulted in more than 1,000 internationally educated healthcare professionals – most of whom are nurses – joining the Welsh NHS.
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A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “[We] have an established programme to ethically recruit trained nurses from overseas to help support the NHS in Wales – this is in addition to our ongoing investment in nurse training in Wales. We are disappointed by the proposals put forward by Cardiff University to end nurse training but are confident that, whatever the final decision taken following its consultation, alternative plans will be put in place to ensure continuation of provision so there is no impact on the numbers of nurses trained in Wales.”
A Cardiff University spokesperson said: “It’s important to stress that these are proposals and there is still a great deal of detail to work through before any final decisions are made. In the short term there will be no immediate impact on nursing students or their ability to complete their studies.
“We are committed to delivering nursing degree programmes to the students starting in 2025. We are acutely aware of our role in delivering the next generation of healthcare professionals for Wales and beyond and are actively consulting with all stakeholders on our proposals.”