Welsh Government to hold emergency summit over ambulance staffing crisis

Emily Price 

The Welsh Government has confirmed it will convene an emergency stakeholder summit later this month to address the growing staffing crisis in the Welsh Ambulance Service.

The confirmation came via a response to a written question submitted by Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar to the new Cabinet Minister for Health and Care, Mabon ap Gwynfor.

Mr Millar raised concerns over new figures that revealed there are 82 newly qualified paramedic (NQP) graduates but no available posts.

The Welsh Ambulance Service confirmed in April that newly qualified paramedics would not be offered roles this year due to “financial and operational issues”.

Mr ap Gwynfor, acknowledged that there are no available jobs this year for paramedic graduates, citing financial pressures and service redesign as reasons.

Despite the absence of NQP vacancies, the Welsh Government confirmed that 62 of the 82 graduates have instead secured technical roles within the Welsh Ambulance Service.

The cabinet minister confirmed that a summit will be held later this month to bring together key stakeholders “to consider immediate actions to support graduates” and explore longer-term solutions.

In his response, Mr ap Gwynfor said: “The Welsh Government is working closely with the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST), Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), universities and wider stakeholders to support newly qualified paramedics and improve the alignment between training and employment opportunities.

“The challenges facing NQPs is not limited to Wales there is a restriction in available posts nationally.

“While responsibility for recruitment rests with WAST, we maintain regular engagement to understand its workforce requirements and recruitment capacity.

“The current position reflects a temporary mismatch between the number of graduates and the availability of funded vacancies, driven by financial constraints and service redesign within ambulance services.

“There are 82 graduates and no available NQP roles within WAST.

“However, of these, 62 NQPs have been successful in obtaining emergency medical technician roles.

“With 42 of the NQP’s allocated training courses in September and October and a further 20 are on a reserve list to either replace anyone who withdraws or will be allocated to a course early 2027.

“As such most of the students have roles in WAST although not in paramedic roles.

“We are working with key stakeholders across the NHS, education sector and professional bodies to identify other potential solutions.

“We will convene a stakeholder summit in June to consider immediate actions to support graduates who have not yet secured a post and to identify longer-term measures to reduce the risk of this situation recurring.”

Shadow Minister for Health and Social Care, Natasha Asghar, said the Welsh Government’s “vague” answer wasn’t “good enough” and called for a “proper explanation”.

She said: “I welcome the news that a summit is going to be convened later this month, but this is of little comfort to those graduates who understandably had an expectation of a paramedic job waiting for them in our ambulance service.

“Vague references to financial pressures and service redesign have ben cited as reasons for the situation, but this isn’t good enough.

“We need a proper explanation of how we got to this extraordinary situation where we have newly qualified paramedics, who are much-needed in the service, but there aren’t suitable jobs for them.

“This is unforgivable at a time when all efforts need to be focussed on driving down waiting times, ending corridor care at A&E units and improving patient care.

“We look forward to the summit coming to clear conclusions about what actions the new government can take to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”