RCN Wales survey shows NHS nursing vacancies hit 2000
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on the picket line outside the RCN offices by Cardiff University Hopsital, December 20, 2022
[Ben Birchall/PA Wire] 
NURSES’ leaders revealed today that the current 2,000 registered nurse vacancies in NHS Wales cost the service £142 million in agency cover.
The Royal College of Nurses (RCN) Cymru published its 2024 edition of Nursing in Numbers — its flagship report on the state of the nursing workforce in Wales — revealing that NHS Wales health boards have 2,000 registered nurse vacancies in 2024.
RCN said the vacancies increase NHS Wales’s reliance on temporary agency staff, which cost taxpayers £142m in 2023-24.
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