Politics Wales

Reform MS Joe Martin – Image: Senedd Cymru

This week from the floor of the Senedd Siambr, a Reform MS by the name of Joe Martin made a claim shrouded in attempted mockery that the recruitment of Indian nurses to work in the Welsh NHS resulted in job losses for Welsh people.

The jyst of Martin’s argument is that Welsh Government recruiting Indian nurses means Welsh people end up on universal credit because there are no vacancies for them to become nurses.

Martin failed to notify the Senedd that thousands of vacancies across Wales for nursing posts go unfilled due stringent needs of ensuring that newly trained student nurses have the adeqate training experience required to fill these posts. Would Martin and Reform in Wales wish to see less qualified less experienced nurses staff our hospitals?

This is not only ludicrous it is dangerous to all those who depend on a fucntioning NHS. If Martin and Reformever came to power can we assume they’d send all foreign staff home and run a skelton NHS based only on Welsh or British staff?

Here’s some figures that Martin won’t recognise or more than likely has not consulted.

In Wales 6% of the entire healthcare workforce is comprised of non uk-nationals. If we brek down the data further 26% of doctors in Wales are non-uk nationals and 8% of Nurses and midwives non-uk nationals. Taken as a whole it is 6% of the Welsh healthcare workforce.

Compare these figures with England where 21.3% of the entire healthcare workforce are non-uk nationals, 36.3% of doctors 30% of nurses and midwives being non-uk nationals.

Does Joe Martin and his Reform colleagues believe that there is a surplus of Welsh born personel to staff these roles? Or maybe Martin who back in April gave an interview to Gair Rhydd and claimed that he favoured universities moving to 2 year degree course, belivee that doctors and nurses can be trained in this timescale without posing a risk to the public when carrying out their roles.

Constructive opposition in any parliament is to welcomed, reckless presenting of hyperbole cloaked as fact especially where the NHS is cocnerned should be treated with alarm.