National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006

[F1 25A Duty to have regard to providing sufficient nurses E+W

(1) Subsection (2) applies where a Local Health Board is considering the extent of provision of nursing services for its area necessary to meet all reasonable requirements.

(2) The Local Health Board must have regard to the importance of—

(a) providing sufficient nurses to allow the nurses time to care for patients sensitively, and

(b) where securing the provision of nursing services, ensuring that there are sufficient nurses to allow the nurses time to care for patients sensitively.

(3) Where an NHS Trust in Wales provides nursing services it must provide those services to such extent as it considers necessary to meet all reasonable requirements; and subsection (4) applies where an NHS Trust in Wales is considering the extent of provision of nursing services.

(4) The NHS Trust must have regard to the importance of—

(a) providing sufficient nurses to allow the nurses time to care for patients sensitively, and

(b) where securing the provision of nursing services, ensuring that there are sufficient nurses to allow the nurses time to care for patients sensitively.

(5) For the purposes of having regard to the importance of providing sufficient nurses to allow the nurses time to care for patients sensitively, a Local Health Board or NHS Trust in Wales must (among other things) undertake workforce planning (including planning the recruitment, retention, education and training of nurses).

(6) In this section, and in sections 25B to 25E, references to—

(a) a nurse providing care for patients include the provision of care by a person other than a nurse acting under the supervision of, or discharging duties delegated to the person by, a nurse;

(b) a “nurse” mean a registered nurse;

(c) an “NHS Trust in Wales” mean an NHS trust all or most of whose hospitals, establishments and facilities are situated in Wales.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Ss. 25A-25E and cross-headings inserted (3.8.2016 for the insertion of s. 25D, 6.4.2017 for the insertion of s. 25A, 6.4.2018 in so far as not already in force) by Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 (anaw 5), ss. 1(1), 2(1); S.I. 2016/829, art. 2(a)(b)(c)