{"id":320539,"date":"2025-08-05T19:01:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/320539\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T19:01:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:01:13","slug":"less-than-a-third-of-paramedic-graduates-to-be-hired-in-wales-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/320539\/","title":{"rendered":"Less than a third of paramedic graduates to be hired in Wales this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Ambulances \u2013 Picture by Ashley Buttle (CC BY 2.0).<\/p>\n

Emily Price\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

New figures have revealed that less than a third of paramedic graduates will be hired in Wales this year despite significant concerns over ambulance services and response times.<\/p>\n

According to the data, out of the 67 paramedic graduates in Wales this year, only 20 will be employed.<\/p>\n

This is despite the Welsh Ambulance Service requesting 86 paramedics to be trained and paid for through Welsh Government funding.<\/p>\n

The new figures were revealed by Swansea Lib Dem Councillor and Senedd Candidate for G\u0175yr Abertawe Sam Bennett.<\/p>\n

The data was later confirmed in correspondence between party leader Jane Dodds and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Miles.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Targets<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the letter, Miles said Welsh Government officials were in \u201curgent and ongoing discussions\u201d with the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, universities and Health Education and Improvement Wales about the situation this year.<\/p>\n

The Cabinet Secretary for Health added that there was a \u201crange factors\u201d contributing to the gap between vacancies and graduates, including \u201cclinical skill mix adjustment, resource constraints, reduced turnover of existing paramedics and the regrading of roles within the service\u201d.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cIn response to the shortfall in available paramedic posts for Welsh graduates this year, Health Education and Improvement Wales is exploring alternative employment opportunities within the NHS, including roles in emergency care, emergency department, and primary care settings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognise the distress this situation is causing graduates who expect to transition smoothly into employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Training<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calls are now been made for the Welsh Government to urgently intervene and create more posts to prevent the time and money spent training much-needed qualified paramedics from being wasted.<\/p>\n

According to the latest data, 51% of red calls \u2013 the most life-threatening incidents \u2013 are not being met within the Welsh Government\u2019s target times.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 33% of amber calls \u2013 which include serious conditions like heart attacks and strokes \u2013 are taking longer than an hour to respond to.<\/p>\n

Lead Welsh Liberal Democrat Senedd Candidate for G\u0175yr Abertawe Sam Bennett said: \u201cWith record response times across Wales, the Welsh Government have an opportunity here to get more trained Paramedics responding to incidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot afford to lose these highly skilled professionals, especially not at a time when the NHS is under this much pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is shocking, despite funding 87 Paramedic Students to be trained, that less than half will be recruited. At a time when Paramedics are desperately needed to help improve Ambulance response times, that so few are to be hired is a scandal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Welsh Government should now step in and ensure that these trained and qualified Paramedics are hired to relieve the strain on the Welsh Ambulance Service.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018No-brainer\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leader of the Welsh Lib Dems, Jane Dodds added: \u201cThe NHS is our top Priority as Welsh Liberal Democrats. Having already paid for the training, it is a no-brainer that the Welsh Government should seize this opportunity to give Paramedics more support and resources across Wales.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is vital that the Welsh Government act with urgency before these Paramedics are lost to NHS Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, the Welsh Government announced changes to the way the Welsh Ambulance Service deals with the most serious 999 calls.<\/p>\n

A new purple category was introduced for people suffering from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, whilst the red category was retained for life-threatening emergencies.<\/p>\n

The Welsh Government says the changes are designed to ensure more people get the life-saving help they need \u2013 while those who do not need an ambulance receive more appropriate care.<\/p>\n

The changes were made in response to a recommendation from the Senedd\u2019s Health and Social Care Committee, which concluded the existing ambulance response target is no longer appropriate or fit for purpose.<\/p>\n

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: \u201cWe are committed to ensuring our investment in NHS education and training is supported by meaningful employment opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis includes exploring alternative employment within the NHS, including roles in emergency care, accident and emergency, and primary care settings, for the students affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working closely with the Welsh Ambulance Services Trust, Health Education and Improvement Wales and universities to address these challenges and support graduates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support our Nation today<\/p>\n

For the price of a cup of coffee<\/strong> a month you can help us create an
\n independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by
\n the people of Wales.<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ambulances \u2013 Picture by Ashley Buttle (CC BY 2.0). Emily Price\u00a0 New figures have revealed that less than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-320539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114977707531277402","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}