Redundant military medical staff should work for NHS in Wales, Plaid Cymru says
BMJ 2015; 350 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h499 (Published 27 January 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h499
Armed forces medical staff members who have been made redundant should be recruited to work in the NHS in Wales, Plaid Cymru has said.
Elin Jones, the party’s shadow health minister, said that it would be a wasted opportunity not to employ trained military medical staff in the NHS. The party’s call followed an announcement by the British army that it was launching a new army reserve recruitment campaign. The campaign is looking to recruit doctors, and events will take places across England and Wales.
Figures that Plaid Cymru obtained through a request made under freedom of information legislation show that, since May 2010, 80 armed forces medical staff members across the UK had been made redundant. Medical staff includes doctors, dentists, and nurses. Of the 80, 30 worked in the naval service and 50 were employed by the army. The armed forces employ a total of 7820 medical staff across the UK, of whom 5180 are doctors.
Jones said that it would be “a huge missed opportunity” if the NHS did not seek to employ trained military medical experts with experience of working in challenging circumstances. “Those who have lost their jobs from the armed forces should be targeted for recruitment into the Welsh NHS to help meet the demands and challenges of turning around outcomes in the NHS frontline for the benefit of Welsh patients. They have an abundance of transferable skills that could be well received, particularly in our struggling A&E [accident and emergency] departments,” Jones said.
She said that although the 80 personnel identified in the freedom of information request were likely to have already found employment, the Welsh government needed to be “proactive in identifying and seeking out those medical personnel who may be leaving the forces in the future.”
Jones added, “Former military medical personnel are highly respected, and I’m sure their involvement would be a boost to morale among NHS staff and a shot in the arm for patient confidence in our health service.”