During First Minister’s Questions today (November 10), Paul Davies MS – the Leader of the opposition in the Welsh Parliament – sought reassurances that the mental wellbeing of frontline Wales NHS staff who have worked treating people with Coronavirus will not be overlooked.
Mr Davies said that it was “… crucial that the Welsh Government considers how it also supports our NHS workers at this time”, and referred to comments made by the Royal College of Nursing in Wales that an increasing number of staff are accessing mental health support due to the pandemic.
The First Minister agreed with Mr Davies that NHS staff must be supported through what they have experienced on the frontline.
Speaking later, Mr Davies said:
“The impact on our frontline staff because of the pandemic has been monumental, and so any response to this must equal it.
“However, in the same way that the Health Minister is not just the Coronavirus Minister, Wales NHS staff are not just Coronavirus nurses and doctors.
“They have countless other conditions and illnesses to deal with while suffering a significant backlog in treatment, and an estimated 2,000 extra cancer deaths predicted, and a ten-fold increase to 49,000 of patients waiting for treatment.
“NHS staff, like the rest of the population, need confidence in the Welsh Labour-led Government – confidence that will likely have evaporated on hearing the Health Minister describe planning to deal with this as ’foolish’.
“Saving lives, whether at risk of cancer or Coronavirus, is never foolish, but what the NHS is for.”