Written question WQ84657

We value the incredible work of our nurses in health and social care, the pandemic more than ever has shown us how remarkable they are and have been. We fully recognise however the challenges we face in recruiting and retaining registered nurses to work in care homes and the joint HEIW and Social Care Wales Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy, a ten year plan, places attraction and recruitment, and workforce supply and shape, and wellbeing at its heart.

We continue to invest in the workforce required to support our health and care system in Wales. Record levels of more than £260m in 2022-23 will deliver the highest ever number of healthcare training opportunities in Wales.

We have committed £730k over three years to support an innovative three year national pilot introducing the role of a Care Home Education Facilitator in Wales. This work is being taken forward by Health Education and Improvement Wales. The fund supports student nurses to undertake a wider range of high-quality clinical placements in social care across Wales and supports existing nurses within the sector to develop additional skills in mentoring and supervising student nurses.

Alongside this, we continue to work with our key stakeholders right across the sector and are actively looking at current challenges and opportunities for supporting more nurses to work in care homes.

In terms of wider social care pressures, we understand that some health boards have been seeking to recruit healthcare assistants to try and facilitate discharge from hospital due to delays caused by workforce pressures within domiciliary care settings however we understand the impact of this has been variable across Wales. We continue to do all we can to attract and retain social care workers in domiciliary care and care homes including supporting national and local recruitment campaigns and working through the Social Care Fair Work Forum to improve terms and conditions in the sector. The Social Care Fair Work Forum is a social partnership Forum of which the RCN is a member.