Completed petition Extend section 25B of the Nurse Staffing Levels Act (Wales) 2016
Nurses across Wales are short of 1,719 highly-skilled, life-saving staff members. This means nursing staff give NHS Wales 34,284 extra hours every single week – and it still isn’t enough. Research shows that where there are fewer nurses, patients are 26% more likely to die overall rising to 29% following complicated hospital stays. The Welsh Government should extend Section 25B of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 to give the Welsh public the full team of nurses they desperately need.
More details
Section 25B of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 requires health boards and NHS trusts in Wales to take all reasonable steps to maintain a specified nurse staffing level. The nurse staffing level is the number and skill mix of nurses required to provide sensitive patient care. In addition, health boards and trusts are required to inform the public of the levels of nursing staff on any ward covered by Section 25B.
When the law was first passed, Section 25B only applied to acute adult medical and surgical wards. On 1 October 2021, it was extended to children’s wards. We want it to apply in all settings where nursing care is provided, starting with community nursing and mental health inpatient wards.
Follow our campaign on social media and get involved
#ForTheFullTeam.
Website: [no longer active]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RCNWales
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RCNWales
This petition was considered by the Petitions Committee
Find out about the Petitions Committee’s discussion of this petition
The Senedd debated this topic
This topic was debated on 28 September 2022
The petition was debated by the Senedd in Plenary on 28 September 2022.