The first nursing associates in Wales are expected to be in post next year, a senior nurse in the Welsh Government has told Nursing Times, as a major workforce plan for the country is launched.
Gillian Knight, nursing officer at the Welsh Government, said she expected the first people to enter the workforce in the band 4 regulated nursing role would come at some point in 2026.
“We want to make Wales the best place for people to come and train as nurses”
Lisa Llewellyn
Registered nursing associates, which act as a bridging role between healthcare assistants (HCA) and registered nurse roles, have existed in England since 2019.
The Welsh Government first announced in January 2024 that it was considering bringing in an Agenda for Change band 4 regulated nursing post, which would be very similar to the nursing associate.
Last March, the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s governing council agreed to regulating the post in Wales.
Ms Knight, who works for Welsh chief nursing officer (CNO) Sue Tranka, has now announced that work on implementing nursing associates behind the scenes has continued, and that the first nursing associates could come as early as next year.
This work has included a “parameters of practice” consultation, which focused on establishing the “red lines” regarding the post, she said.
“We’re very clear that this is not about role substitution,” Ms Knight said. “It’s about supporting the registered nurse to do what only they can do.
“While we’ve had a number of career and education frameworks for healthcare support workers for a number of years in Wales, we’ve not been fully utilising opportunities with the workforce from band 2-4.
“It’s all about support for the profession and public safety,” she added.
Phase one of implementing nursing associates has now concluded with the end of this consultation, she said, with the second phase – implementation – to come, “pending legislative amendments” from the Welsh Government.
“We’re awaiting a formal timetable over the coming months,” she told Nursing Times. “We envisage a first cohort starting in 2026.”
Ms Knight could not comment on when exactly next year the first Welsh nursing associates would be joining the workforce.
However, she told Nursing Times that said she anticipated the post would act as a “stepping stone into the profession, supporting widened access”.
Front cover of HEIW’s Strategic Nursing Workforce Plan
She said the Welsh Government had learned from the implementation of the role in England, and that more information would be published later this year, as well as the Welsh CNO vision for the coming years.
Ms Knight made the comments at Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW)’s Nursing Workforce Conference, held at Llandrindod Wells.
The conference saw the launch of the HEIW Strategic Nursing Workforce Plan for 2025-30, a first of its kind for the devolved nation.
This plan outlined 32 actions for growing, transforming and supporting the nursing workforce. Among the actions was implementing the registered nursing associate post.
Others included improving the appeal of the profession to get more people applying for university places, pushing nurses to implement digital technology into practice and continuing to improve Wales-wide nurse retention rates.
Lisa Llewellyn, executive director of nursing, health professions and quality at HEIW, said: “This is the first strategic nursing workforce plan for Wales, so that’s why we are really excited.
“It took time, because we needed to get it right, and we engaged with the profession and listened to them.”
She affirmed that the hope would be that, by the end of the five-year period covered in the plan, there were more nurses in Wales than there are now.
Lisa Llewellyn
Asked which parts of the plan would be prioritised, Ms Llewellyn said: “One of the key areas that we are wanting to progress is looking at how we develop services in the community.
“Given [changes] in terms of the population health needs of Wales and the demography of our workforce as well, and recognising those needs, it’s about how we enable people to take control of their own lives, their health and wellbeing.
“[The] move into the community will be a key priority,” she added.
She further said that growing a domestic workforce, improving “work-based learning culture” and improving nurse retention rates were also particularly important aspects of the plan.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “And we want [the plan] to be owned by all our nurses across NHS Wales, because everyone has a part to play in implementing it and making a difference.
“We want to make Wales the best place for people to come and train as nurses.”
HEIW associate director of workforce transformation (nursing and midwifery) Rebecca Boore, who launched the plan, said she was “delighted” it was now published – and that she eagerly awaited the implementation phase.
