30/04/2014 The Wales Report

Tonight on the Wales Report: Warnings from experts that the Welsh

NHS is facing a recruitment crisis, with essential services being put at

risk. We investigate. One year on, what impact are the UK

Government's welfare changes having on Welsh communities? And Wales on

screen. Is Welsh life being adequately reflected in the media?

Stay with us for the Wales Report. Good evening and welcome back to the

Wales Report. On tonight's programme, does Wales have enough

doctors and nurses to run the health service effectively? According to

many in the sector, the NHS in Wales is facing severe problems when it

comes to recruiting and retaining staff in hospitals, general practice

and nursing. Experts say the situation is now at crisis point,

and this summer could see GP practices closing and hospitals

unable to offer certain services. Helen Callaghan has been

investigating. When you are ill, you expect the

place where you are being looked after to be fully staffed with the

best people. But there are serious concerns this is not happening in

Wales and we have been told that recruitment robins are fat in the

entire NHS -- recruitment problems are affecting.

I think you have to look at the man and and whether the demand outstrip

the resource and it does. The situation is at breaking point. I

would describe it as a perfect storm.

We can look at the Labour record in Wales. With the Welsh NHS under

constant attack, allegations of a recruitment crisis are the blow.

The Health Minister is adamant there is not one but that is not what X

votes -- experts have told this programme. Doctor Banfield is a

consultant who trains junior doctors. He has also -- he is also

chair of the medical Association in Wales. He says a lack of hospital

doctors could cause severe problems this summer.

There is a crisis how and it will precipitate out in August of next

year. Hospitals will have difficulty recruiting for specific specialties

and our concern is that health boards will then use that as an

excuse to close services based on safety issues.

Doctor Banfield says the cause of this problem is twofold. Wales does

not attract enough trainee doctors. And those who do qualify here do not

stay. The reality is that Wales is not

physically large enough to provide specialist training, so junior

doctors at some point have to leave Wales in order to get a training

across a wider experience. He says the problem is they do not return

and more needs to be done to encourage them back.

Welsh Government and health boards are perfectly aware of the problems

they have got and what we need is to get them together with the

profession and the higher education institutions, the universities, to

plan their way out of this. When it comes to general practice,

Doctor Charlotte Jones says there simply are not enough doctors across

Wales to meet demand. GPs are absolutely on their knees. Their

workload is saturated, demand is ever-increasing. The expectations

placed on GPs are ever-increasing. The complexes the lovely type of

work we do as well as less complex work but lots of demand means that

we are actually completely stretched to capacity -- the complexity of the

type of work. She says this affects the whole of

Wales. The Wales report has seen the initial findings of an ongoing

survey which suggests there will be a worrying shortage of doctors in

the next five years. Of the 282 GPs practices already questioned, a

third say that they have a vacancy to be filled over the next 12

months. What I am concerned about is Will there be GP practices shutting?

What we need to see is a significant investment within the recruitment

and retention of GPs right now, as well as looking into the medium and

long-term. The Royal College agrees. Surgeries are underfunded. Their

latest research suggests more money is needed to bring the nub of

doctors in Wales back to adequate levels. -- number.

We will have to spend an extra ?140 million over the coming years. The

pressure is taking its toll. Some GPs are burning out and others are

even taking early retirement. They simply cannot take any more in

the job and that is so hard to see. It is so unnecessary really. If the

problems were addressed properly and sustainably, then I think that we

would have a flourishing Welsh general practice, which is what we

all want. Many nurses across Wales are

complaining they are overwhelmed by the pressures of understaffing.

Latest research from the Royal College of Nursing shows they are

doing more unpaid overtime because there are not enough staff and that

each nurse in Wales treats more patients than those working in other

parts of the UK. When anything goes wrong, it is the sing staff that are

heralded up for not giving appropriate care and poor care. --

nursing staff. But when we examine quite a number of those issues, it

is down to resources. And nurses themselves are saying, I am fed at

going home at the end of the day feeling that I have not cut the time

to care. Budget restraints have led to intermittent recruitment freezes

across some health boards. Instead of taking