30 March 2023
“The Emergency Care system in Wales remains in crisis with patients facing long delays for care. The ever-stretched workforce is doing all it can to mitigate the impact that these delays have on patient care and staff continue to work tirelessly for their patients.
“In January, the College published Wales’ Emergency Medicine workforce census. This showed a significant shortfall in Emergency Medicine staff across Wales. Shortfalls in staffing lead to an increase in workload and, in turn, to an increase in burnout and exhaustion. When staff are stretched as they are, they are unable to provide the high-quality care they are trained to provide. This is distressing and demoralising. Staff care deeply about their patients and are dedicated to delivering quality care, but the situation is extremely challenging.
“We welcome the Health Minister’s, Eluned Morgan, engagement on this issue but reports show we need more urgency and focus on delivering meaningful actions quicker. We must see a growth in workforce numbers, focus on retention, expansion of acute bed capacity across Wales, meaningful and transparent metrics around 12-hour length of stay and tangible action on social care to discharge patients and free up beds.”
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine: Five priorities for UK Governments to #ResuscitateEmergencyCare
