Mark Hannaby The Politics Show Wales

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The rising cost of healthcare is blamed for NHS debt problems

Nurses in Wales fear NHS deficits are putting their jobs at risk. In England 7,000 nurses are being made redundant.

Their Welsh counterparts know NHS Wales is bearing a debt totalling �114m at the same time its gearing up for a large scale reorganisation of services.

They believe something will have to give and fear that, as in England, that might mean nursing jobs going.

On Wednesday 10 May 2006, members of the Royal College of Nursing will stage a lobby at the National Assembly expressing their concerns.

The Director of the Royal College of Nurses in Wales, Tina Donnelly, said: "We are already hearing from our members that there are wards in hospitals that are closing.

"As we continue to see reconfiguration of services we're concerned that there may well be job losses when more hospitals close their beds in order to meet the deficits that are currently in Wales."

If Patricia Hewitt is already bearing the brunt of the nurses' anger, then Wales' Heath Minister Dr Brian Gibbons will be eager to avoid such confrontation.

He remains optimistic that NHS reorganisation will not result in nursing redundancies.

Dr Gibbons said: "I think that there will inevitably be a period of change.

"But in that period of change hopefully we will manage it in a way that will not result in people losing their jobs, and clearly that would be the last option that we would be looking at."

If there have not been nursing job cuts so far, then the Director of the Royal College of Nursing in Wales claims some Trusts are cutting back by freezing job vacancies.

Newly qualified nurses therefore have less opportunity to work and practice new skills. It is argued that is bad for them and for their patients.

Nurses are also angry about their pay and conditions.

Over 18 months after it should have been implemented, the government's new pay package, called "Agenda for Change", is not in place for all nurses.

The RCN estimates that 67% of eligible NHS workers, including many nurses, still have not been assimilated to the scheme and so have not benefited from a pay rise.

The organisation also claims "Agenda for Change" is under funded by �24m.

Angela Haley, a nurse specialist at St Woolos' Hospital, Newport, said: " Agenda for Change should have taken place in October 2004 and yet here in my own department 99% of the staff here do not know what band they are on.

"The implications of that mean that this year, as far as the proposed 2.5% pay rise is concerned, most nurses will not receive that."

The Health Minister will have to work hard to appease Welsh nurses.

Whether he will be able to put their fears to bed appears open to question.

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