Proposals from Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board which it is claimed would see nurses and care workers on call during unpaid breaks must be scrapped, a North Wales AM has insisted.

Plaid Cymru’s North Wales regional AM Llyr Gruffydd has called on the Welsh Government to intervene to stop the plans to change the Betsi Cadwaladr nursing rotas, and led an Assembly debate asking for ministers to take action.

Under the proposals, which have been heavily criticised by staff and unions, nurses and health care support workers would allegedly end up working an extra shift unpaid each month, because they would have to be on call during unpaid breaks.

However, Betsi Cadwaladr insisted that nurses would not be expected to be on-call during their breaks and said that had never been proposed.

Mr Gruffydd said: “These proposals effectively expect nurses to be on-call throughout their unpaid breaks and will mean an extra half-hour unpaid per shift.

“That’s unacceptable when nurses are already working long hours under pressure, not least because one-in-10 nursing posts are vacant within the health board.

“One nurse told us this would be the final nail in the coffin for nurses and it’s clear from the response to Plaid’s 3,300-strong petition that many nurses agree with her.

“I am very concerned that the gap between senior management and frontline staff is so great that they do not realise that losing nurses’ goodwill is the price they will pay for this change. Nursing morale is low – this will take it even lower."

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