Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 8 October 2024.
Thank you for your response. First Minister, you'll know better than many inside this Chamber and outside of the pressures that are on top of our health boards at present. I was recently contacted by a constituent who set out a truly worrying situation she found herself in whilst working within our health service. Sadly, there are many more cases like this from all corners of Wales. But in this case, whilst working as a nurse at the Grange hospital, she had a number of serious concerns, including bullying and harassment, severe staff shortages, rogue nurses, badge swapping and sepsis patients going without treatment and, in her words, 'left to die'. Shockingly, according to my constituent, all nursing staff at the Grange were told at all shift handovers not to report any issues via any official channels. When my constituent did, indeed, flag these issues with her agency, various complaints were then levelled against her that she says were fabricated and no evidence was ever supplied. First Minister, this whole situation has had an unimaginable impact on my constituent, who says that she's lost all faith in our health service and would never ever return back to nursing. All she wants now is for action to be taken to ensure this never ever happens again to anyone else working in nursing. So, First Minister, will you commit to looking into this matter and making sure that lessons are learned so that something like this isn't repeated, and ensure anyone accused of any offence within the health board, regardless of their contractual status or obligation, receives a fair hearing? Thank you.