Plaid MPs urge Welsh Government to act to improve nurses’ working conditions.

Plaid Cymru Members of Parliament for Gwynedd, Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) and Hywel Williams (Arfon) joined local nurses on the picket line outside Ysbyty Gwynedd this week as they fight for better pay and improved working conditions.

Nurses from North Wales joined those across England and northern Ireland by going on strike for a second day as part of industrial action over low pay, understaffing and patient safety concerns.

Liz Saville Roberts MP and Hywel Williams MP - who have called on the Welsh government to properly engage with nurses’ concerns - renewed their call on the Welsh government Health Minister to improve the pay offer and listen to overwhelming concerns about patient safety and scant resources.

They said: "No nurse wants to go on strike. It is a last resort and a sign of desperation when all other avenues of mediation have failed.

"Having spent time talking to nurses on the picket line it is clear that they don’t want to strike but their hands have been forced by a government unwilling to listen and a Health Minister reluctant to engage. The pressures faced by nurses are immense. This dispute isn’t just about a below inflation pay offer.'

"Above all else it’s about patient safety and how a lack of resources - widespread retention issues and rock bottom morale is compromising the safe provision of care. It is simply unsustainable.'

"Nurses will have thought long and hard before voting to strike as this will inevitably impact waiting lists and timely access to healthcare. But they have been left with no option.'

"Strikes have of course been averted in Scotland because the SNP government has engaged with the Unions in good faith, reaching a compromise that was acceptable to all. We need that good faith shown by this Labour government in Wales.'

"We support the RCN and their members across Gwynedd as they fight for the recognition they deserve and call again on the Health Minister to properly engage with nurses - come back to the table with an improved offer and commit the government to help make working conditions infinitely better for our hard-working NHS staff."