The First Minister has urged Swansea Bay’s health board to ensure its plan to shed around 800 jobs does not have a “detrimental impact” on patient care — as Senedd members from three different parties pressed him on the proposals.
Swansea Bay University Health Board announced last month that it plans to cut its workforce by around 800 posts over three years as it tries to return to a balanced budget after years of overspending.
The plans were raised at First Minister’s questions on Tuesday by Gwyn Williams (Plaid Cymru, Gŵyr Abertawe), who said the people of Swansea were “deeply concerned” by the announcement.
Mr Williams recognised the proposals were intended to bring financial stability and reduce reliance on expensive agency staff — but said they came “at a particularly challenging time”, with training places for future healthcare professionals also being cut.
“There is undoubtedly a need to rebalance the way our health service manages its finances, but patient care must remain the overriding priority,” he told the chamber, asking what discussions were taking place to protect patient outcomes.
First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said workforce decisions were down to health boards themselves, which needed clear plans that supported the safe delivery of services.
“I am very, very aware of the concern around the plans announced in that particular health board,” he said.
“I and my health Minister would urge them now, in light of those concerns, to ensure that any proposals that they bring forward will not have a detrimental impact on the health of the people of that part of Wales.”
The First Minister also committed to a new national workforce strategy for the Welsh NHS, saying the government would work with health boards and Health Education and Improvement Wales to better align training with funded posts.
Reform UK’s Francesca O’Brien, who also represents Gŵyr Abertawe, told the First Minister she had written to the health secretary ten days earlier about the board — pointing to more than £112m of deficit over the last three years and a negligence provision that has doubled to £40m.
With a further £77m overspend forecast for the coming year, she asked: “Is your current level of intervention adequate? If not, what further steps are you going to take?”
Mr ap Iorwerth said the government “always keeps its level of intervention under review”, adding: “It is troubling, and it has been… to see those financial deficits year after year, which is why that sustainability agenda is so, so important to us.”
Money made available through the supplementary budget was “not about quick fixes”, he said — “it’s up to those health boards to make sure that they balance the books and provide the healthcare that the people they serve deserve.”
Labour’s Mike Hedges, the third Gŵyr Abertawe member to raise the board, highlighted newly qualified nurses and midwives leaving without job offers — and asked the First Minister to meet the board and press it to employ recent graduates instead of expensive agency staff.
The First Minister said cutting agency dependency “has to be at the heart” of a sustainable health service, noting that shedding agency posts was part of Swansea Bay’s plans — “which isn’t, in itself, a negative”.
On graduates without posts, he blamed “decisions made by the last Government”, pointing to a graduate summit convened by the health minister — and calling the situation “deeply frustrating” and “clearly distressing for the students involved”.
The health board has said the 800-post reduction will be managed over three years, pointing to record nurse numbers as it seeks to cut agency spend and repair its finances.
Sharing footage of the exchange on social media, Mr Williams highlighted Swansea Bay News’s original report of the proposed cuts.
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