Safe nurse staffing in Wales moves closer

As the Nursing Times reported yesterday, Welsh assembly members passed the motion on the financial resolution for the Safe Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Bill. It will now move on to the next part of the legislative process, which will see ministers consider amendments to the bill.

Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Kirsty Williams, who put forward the Bill at the end of 2013, said that the decision was a signal that ministers would agree for the law to be introduced.

She said the bill was a “golden opportunity” to combat negative media headlines about the Welsh NHS. She added:

The premise of this bill is simple – making sure there are more nurses on our hospital wards means each nurse will have more time to care for each patients.

This will lead to better care outcomes for those patients, and a more manageable workload which might stem the flow of nurses leaving the profession. Nurses in Wales have to care for more patients per head than any other part of the UK. We simply can’t allow this situation to continue.