Wales pushing for healthcare funding to support apprenticeships
Welsh ministers have pledged £283.126 million to help healthcare in the country, however, an organisation is calling for some of it to aid apprenticeships.
The National Training Federation for Wales (NTFW), an organisation that represents work-based learning providers across the country, has welcomed the latest statement from the minister for health and social services, Eluned Morgan which pledged to maintain funding for healthcare professionals for the 2024-25 academic year.
Student of medicine examining anatomical model in laboratory
However, the announcement coincides with a £38m cut to apprenticeships which was proposed in the Welsh government’s budget, although this has yet to be ratified by the Welsh parliament/Senedd Cymru.
Against this backdrop, the NTFW have warned that these severe cuts to the apprenticeship programme in Wales will have dire consequences for patient and residential care – a sector that is already struggling. They estimate that the number of apprenticeship new starts in 2024-25 will be halved to 10,000. It is claimed the sector is facing a 69% reduction in apprenticeship opportunities at a time when workforce challenges have never been greater.
According to figures that were published in summer last year, the estimated number of full-time equivalent vacancies across all staff groups in NHS Wales was 4,966.
Lisa Mytton, NTFW strategic director, said: ‘We welcome the commitment by the Minister for Health and Social Service to maintain funding for healthcare professionals, which is important to support the NHS workforce. However, it is rather short-sighted when the apprenticeship budget for the health and social care workforce is being cut.’
‘We urge the minister to assist her colleague, economy minister Vaughan Gething, and use some of her budget to guarantee support for the health and social care workforce, an important part of the health service in Wales which is already in crisis,’ Lisa added.
In addition, part of the new funding from the Welsh government is to encourage young people to join the NHS workforce. However, recent analysis by the NTFW outlines that this could further reduce the amount of people eligible to join sector. The findings show that if the government does prioritise training people under the age of 25, there may be no new apprenticeship opportunities for those aged 25 and above in 2024-25.
Image: Shutterstock and Chris Curry
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