BRONGLAIS Hospital wards are not being safely staffed because of a lack of qualified, experienced nurses, it has been claimed.

The hospital, like most hospitals in the UK, has been battling to recruit sufficient permanent staffing members.

But a former chair of the Hywel Dda Community Health Council said he had been approached by several people concerned about whether wards were meeting regulations on safe staffing levels.

Paul Hinge, who is also a Ceredigion county councillor, said fears had been raised by former staff members at the hospital and patients and said it left Hywel Dda with questions over whether recruitment attempts were working.

He said: “People feel it’s unsafe on the wards and that there are insufficient staff.

“The minimum staffing level law isn’t being met. They’re trying their very best to circumvent it by saying that not all wards apply under the law, but there is a problem in ensuring there are qualified and experienced staff there.

“The question has to be, if they say they’re having difficulties in staffing, are they reactively looking at their staffing, or proactively looking for solutions to staffing issues?

“This cannot happen and should not happen.”

A health board spokesperson said: “Within Hywel Dda, the work to calculate the required numbers of nurses for each ward has been led by our director of nursing alongside our hospital heads of nursing; the board will be asked to approve these at its May meeting.

“In order to maintain these agreed nurse staffing levels, the senior nurses on duty in each hospital review the position in every ward several times every day and will work with the staff on duty across the hospital to ensure that our patients are cared for safely.

“Sometimes this will include asking nurses and other staff to temporarily work in other areas of the hospital, where they are most needed at that time.”

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