Query Over Care Home Staffing Levels

Plaid has expressed concern over staffing levels in care homes following figures showing a dramatic drop.

The party’s health spokeswoman, Llanelli AM Helen Mary Jones, said she is seeking an urgent meeting with Assembly health minister Edwina Hart over a reduction of 288 staff in the last 12 months.

Plaid says the Assembly’s figures show the number of frontline workers has fallen by six per cent in the past year, while the number of central managers and support staff has increased by the same amount.

Ms Jones said: “I am deeply concerned by these figures and cannot see any obvious reasons why there should have been such a large reduction in home care staff.

“These workers provide an invaluable service to the people who need them.

“I will be discussing this with the health minister as a matter of urgency, in order to find out why this has happened.

“We cannot afford to have further decreases in the future.”