THE Welsh public spending watchdog and nursing leaders expressed concern today at rising NHS vacancies.

Wales’s Auditor General Adrian Crompton reported that there were 6,800 vacancies across all NHS staff groups at the end of March 2022, with nursing and midwifery short of nearly 2,500 workers.

According to the report, more staff are leaving the health service than at any time in the last five years, while a rise in sickness absence led to an estimated 1.4 million working days being lost in 2022-23.

Audit Wales also highlighted a reliance on agency staff, who represented 5.5 per cent of the overall NHS workforce in 2022-23, at a cost of £325 million.

Mr Crompton said: “Alongside the work on workforce planning my auditors are undertaking at each NHS body in Wales, I hope it can be a stimulus for taking forward the essential actions needed to strengthen the NHS workforce.”

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Wales welcomed the report and called for greater investment to tackle the reliance on temporary staff.

RCN Wales director Helen Whyley said: “Nursing staff are exhausted. Recruitment has not and continues not to keep pace with patient demand. 

“The Welsh government needs to invest more in this essential profession.”

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “We are working with health boards to fill vacancies and our national workforce plan sets out actions [on] how we will improve retention and reduce reliance on agency staff.”

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth told the Morning Star: “It makes no sense that hundreds of millions of pounds are being allowed to leave the NHS as part of the agency bill at a time when money is so tight.”