03/28/2024

Wales News Online

Local & National News for Wales

Welsh Liberal Democrats welcome extension of ‘Nurse Staffing Levels Act’

THE leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds has welcomed the announcement today that the Nurse Staffing Levels Act will be extended to paediatric inpatient wards.

The Nurse Staffing Levels Act was a Private Member’s Bill introduced by Welsh Liberal Democrat AM Kirsty Williams in 2014. It received Royal Assent in 2016 following the strong backing of the nursing profession.

As part of the 2016 Progressive Agreement that brought Kirsty Williams into the Welsh Government as Education Minister, it was agreed that there would be “more nurses, in more settings, through an extended nurse staffing levels law.”

The Welsh Government has announced today that “the work-stream for paediatric inpatient wards has progressed to such an extent for the timetable to be sufficient to consult and enable the extension to be enacted by April 2021.”

Responding, Jane Dodds commented:

“The Nurse Staffing Levels Act is a ground-breaking piece of legislation, with Wales the first country in Europe to introduce legislation on safe nurse staffing levels. This is a Welsh Liberal Democrat policy put into action.

“We are delighted that, thanks to the Welsh Liberal Democrats’ agreement with the Welsh Government, the nurse staffing levels act is to be extended to paediatric wards.

“Yesterday we saw Wales improve for the first time in the international education PISA scores and today we see that the Nurse Staffing Levels Act will be further extended. This shows you the difference Kirsty Williams and Welsh Liberal Democrat policies are making in government.”

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