PARAMEDIC JOBS: Welsh Government to hold emergency summit after 82 newly qualified paramedics left with no posts

The Welsh Government has confirmed it will hold an emergency summit this month over the lack of jobs for newly qualified paramedics, after figures revealed 82 graduates but no posts for them to fill.

The admission came in a written answer from the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care, Mabon ap Gwynfor, who acknowledged there are no newly qualified paramedic roles available this year.

It is the latest turn in a crisis Swansea Bay News has been following since the spring, when paramedic students at Swansea University were told there were no NHS jobs for them in Wales — with some advised to look as far afield as Canada and Australia.

Swansea University is the main training centre for paramedics in the region. When Swansea Bay News reported on the crisis in the spring, around 61 of the 67 students due to qualify this summer were based at Swansea, with the remaining six at Wrexham University.

The minister was responding to a written question from Welsh Conservative Darren Millar, who asked how the government was working with the Welsh Ambulance Service to ensure newly qualified paramedics could be hired this year.

In his reply, Mr ap Gwynfor said there were 82 graduates and no available newly qualified paramedic posts within the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust.

He described the situation as a “temporary mismatch” between the number of graduates and the number of funded vacancies, driven by financial constraints and a redesign of ambulance services.

The minister also said the problem was not unique to Wales, pointing to a restriction in available paramedic posts across the UK.

Despite the absence of paramedic vacancies, the government said 62 of the 82 graduates had secured Emergency Medical Technician roles — lower-banded posts — within the ambulance service instead.

It added that 42 of the graduates had been allocated training courses in September and October, with a further 20 placed on a reserve list.

The government confirmed a stakeholder summit would be held in June to consider immediate steps to support graduates who have not yet found a post, and to look at longer-term ways of stopping the situation from happening again.

The shortage echoes a parallel crisis among student nurses, who weeks earlier warned they faced unemployment after 2,300 hours of unpaid training as Band 5 posts dried up — even as health boards in the region had spent years recruiting nurses from overseas.

Natasha Asghar, the Welsh Conservatives’ shadow health minister, welcomed the summit but said it offered little comfort to graduates who had expected a paramedic job to be waiting for them.

She said vague references to financial pressures and service redesign were “not good enough,” and called for a proper explanation of how the situation had arisen.

“We need a proper explanation of how we got to this extraordinary situation where we have newly qualified paramedics, who are much-needed in the service, but there aren’t suitable jobs for them,” she said.

She added that the situation was hard to justify at a time when efforts should be focused on cutting waiting times, ending corridor care in A&E units and improving patient care.

The government has said it is working with the ambulance service, Health Education and Improvement Wales, universities and other stakeholders to better align training with employment.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Welsh Government under pressure over paramedic recruitment shortfall
Last year’s warning that this was coming — when only 20 of 67 paramedic graduates were offered posts.

India recruitment trip attracts 100 nurses to Morriston Hospital
Swansea Bay ran a major overseas drive to fill the Band 5 vacancies domestic graduates are now told don’t exist.

Welsh NHS waiting lists rise again but ambulance handover times improve
The wider pressure on emergency care that makes turning away qualified paramedics harder to justify.

‘We need action. We need jobs. We need answers’ — Welsh student nurses face unemployment after 2,300 hours of unpaid training

Student nurses in Wales are facing the prospect of qualifying with no job to go to — just days after a similar crisis emerged for newly trained paramedics — after a key NHS recruitment process was delayed for the second time due to a critical shortage of available posts.

ITV News Wales first reported that the Royal College of Nursing Wales was raising the alarm over the shortage of Band 5 posts for newly qualified nurses, warning that up to 50% of nursing graduates across Wales may have no job at the end of their studies. Now the human face of that crisis has emerged from Carmarthen, where the S23 Adult Nursing cohort — 23 students — have written an open letter describing their situation as one of “deep desperation and disappointment.”

The students say they received an email on 7 April — the day before their planned streamlining date — informing them that the process had been pushed back from 8 April to 11 May 2026 due to a significantly low number of available Band 5 roles compared to graduating students. Even with the delay, they were told the gap was not expected to fully resolve. It is the second time the process has been delayed for this cohort.

“We were told that training as nurses would guarantee us employment, allowing us all to embark on a meaningful career that means so much to us,” the students wrote. “How have we been able to train for jobs that don’t exist?”

The Carmarthen cohort is part of a far wider picture, with the students estimating that around 400 nursing students across all pathways and universities in Wales are entering the process with little guarantee of employment.

The students describe the personal cost in stark terms. Over three years they have worked days, nights, weekends and holidays across NHS trusts in Wales, completing 2,300 hours of unpaid clinical placements — administering medication, performing CPR, dressing wounds, and supporting families through some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Their NHS bursary requires them to work within Wales for two years after qualifying.

“We have done all this, without salaries, driven by the belief in our NHS, our desire to serve our wider community, and our understanding that we, as nurses, are in high demand,” they wrote. “Now, as we are preparing to qualify, we have been informed that there may be no jobs available.”

One student, Trystan Thomas, spoke to ITV News about the impact on morale. “We were sold a dream about becoming nurses, about becoming healthcare professionals — and now we’ve been told ‘thanks for all your hard work, you may or may not get a job,’” he said. “I used to walk in and see smiles and we’d be happy about where we are. Now I see long faces, me included.”

Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), which co-ordinates the national process of matching final-year nursing, midwifery and Operating Department Practitioner students to Band 5 roles across NHS Wales, confirmed the delay. “This decision has not been taken lightly,” a spokesperson said, adding that the extension was intended to allow health boards more time to review workforce positions and validate vacancies. HEIW acknowledged it could not guarantee the gap would fully resolve, and confirmed students would be released from the two-year Wales work obligation if posts could not be found.

Professor Sandy Harding, Associate Director of Nursing at RCN Wales, said the situation exposed serious failures in workforce planning. “Our NHS is under intense pressure, yet hundreds of newly qualified nurses may have no posts to enter. This is simply unacceptable,” she said. “These students stepped forward for Wales, trained through immense challenges, and now face uncertainty at the very moment the system needs them most.”

The crisis sits in uncomfortable contrast with the recent history of NHS nurse recruitment in the region. Swansea Bay University Health Board — which covers Morriston and Singleton hospitals — spent the last four years running a major international recruitment drive to fill the very Band 5 nursing vacancies that domestic graduates are now being told don’t exist. A recruitment trip to Kochi in India in 2023 attracted 107 nurses to Morriston Hospital, with the health board at that time employing approximately 32 international nurses every five weeks. In total, 456 overseas nurses were recruited over four years, with a 96% retention rate. Head of Nursing Education and Recruitment Lynne Jones said at the time: “Our sources of Band 5 nurses are our student nurses and the regular recruitment of overseas nurses.” The student nurses are now here — but it appears the posts are not.

The Welsh Government said it was working closely with health boards, HEIW and universities to address the situation. A Welsh Labour spokesperson said the number of nurses working in NHS Wales was now at record levels and that vacancy rates were falling — but acknowledged this improvement must translate into “clear and timely employment pathways for graduates.” The Welsh Conservatives called the situation “completely unacceptable” and pointed to the paramedic crisis as evidence of systemic workforce planning failure. The Welsh Liberal Democrats called it “an extraordinary and unforgivable failure.” Plaid Cymru said it highlighted Labour’s failure to invest in and plan for the NHS workforce. The Greens and Reform UK Wales also condemned the situation, with both noting the parallel with the paramedic recruitment collapse.

The nursing crisis follows Swansea Bay News’s revelation last week that nearly £10 million of public money had been spent training paramedics at Swansea University who were then told there were no NHS posts for them in Wales — with some advised to look as far away as Canada and Australia. Together, the two crises suggest a deepening pattern of NHS Wales workforce planning failures across multiple healthcare disciplines.

The Carmarthen students were clear about who they do and do not hold responsible. “We do not blame our university. They have been honest, transparent and supportive throughout our three years,” they wrote. Their three questions for those responsible were direct: why was there minimal transparency allowing them to seek roles elsewhere? Are they free to work outside Wales if posts are unavailable? And why is Wales continuing to accept increasing numbers of nursing students if this situation is likely to continue?

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Nearly £10m of public money spent training paramedics who are now being told to look for work abroad
The crisis that broke just days before — newly qualified paramedics at Swansea University told there are no NHS jobs for them in Wales.

Welsh Government under pressure over paramedic recruitment shortfall
Last year’s warning that this pattern was emerging — when only 20 of 67 paramedic graduates were offered posts.

India recruitment trip attracts 100 nurses to Morriston Hospital
Swansea Bay ran a major international recruitment drive to fill the Band 5 vacancies that domestic graduates are now being told don’t exist.

Health board says Swansea Bay is the place to stay for overseas nurses
The 456 overseas nurses recruited over four years — and the 96% retention rate that made the health board an NHS Wales exemplar.

SWANSEA: Nearly £10m of public money spent training paramedics who are now being told to look for work abroad

Paramedic students at Swansea University have been told they face no job prospects in Wales this year after the Welsh Ambulance Service confirmed a complete freeze on hiring newly qualified paramedics — with some students advised to seek work as far away as Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Around 61 of the 67 students expected to graduate with paramedic science degrees this summer are based at Swansea University, with the remaining six at Wrexham University. Their training has been heavily subsidised by Healthcare Education and Improvement Wales, part of NHS Wales, with the cost per student estimated at around £150,000 — meaning the public bill for this year’s cohort runs to approximately £10 million.

Despite that investment, the Welsh Ambulance Service has told students there will be no newly qualified paramedic posts available to them in Wales this year, citing what it described as “financial and operational issues.”

One Swansea University student — who asked not to be named for fear of affecting his future employment — told the BBC he had been ringing ambulance services across the UK but found very few posts anywhere. He said he was hoping a paramedic job might be available for him in Canada.

Another student, Alice — not her real name — said she was devastated. “It’s an amazing career, it’s so unfortunate that we don’t have the opportunity to join it anymore,” she said.

A third, Alex — also not their real name — said they had fully intended to stay in Wales after qualifying. “I had full intention of working in Wales and serving the Welsh communities. None of us will have the opportunity to serve anywhere in Wales as a paramedic,” they said.

One student described the situation as “crazy and shortsighted.” Their training has included months of placements, sometimes more than 100 miles from home, across different parts of Wales.

As Swansea Bay News previously reported, this is not the first time the recruitment pipeline has broken down. Last year, only around 20 of 67 graduates were initially offered newly qualified paramedic posts, with some pushed into lower-banded Emergency Medical Technician roles instead. This year, the situation has deteriorated further — there are no paramedic posts at all.

Students also told the BBC that a pattern of “retire and return” — schemes that allow experienced paramedics to retire, access their pensions, and then be re-employed — has contributed to the workforce pressures blocking new entrants. A re-grading process within the service has also been cited as a factor.

Despite the bursary agreement that would normally require students to remain in Wales after qualifying, Healthcare Education and Improvement Wales has now released this year’s cohort from that obligation, effectively telling them they are free to seek work wherever they can find it.

Carl Kneeshaw, speaking for the Welsh Ambulance Service, acknowledged the impact on students. “We know this will be deeply disappointing for those hoping to start their careers with us, especially after the time, effort and commitment they have invested in their training,” he said. The service said it would encourage graduates to consider Emergency Medical Technician roles — which it expected to recruit to during 2026 — or posts with other ambulance services across the UK.

The Welsh Government said it was “working closely” with the ambulance service, Healthcare Education and Improvement Wales and the universities to address the challenges and support graduates. A Welsh Labour spokesperson said the party was “committed to ensuring the NHS in Wales has the staff it needs now and in the future.”

That response drew sharp criticism from across the political spectrum. Jane Dodds, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, called it “a staggering waste of both talent and taxpayers’ money” at a time when ambulance response times remain far too long and patients are waiting in pain. Dr Gwyn Williams, Plaid Cymru’s candidate for Gŵyr Abertawe, pointed to the estimated £150,000 cost per student and said the situation amounted to “almost £10m being written off.”

The Welsh Conservatives described it as “a clear failure of workforce planning” that was “completely unacceptable.”

Swansea University said it had been made aware of the situation and its immediate focus was on supporting affected students. A university spokesperson said it was “liaising closely” with the ambulance service and Healthcare Education and Improvement Wales to understand the impact and explore any possible alternative solutions.

The freeze comes as NHS Wales continues to face serious pressure across emergency services. As Swansea Bay News has reported, Welsh A&E departments have been linked to nearly 1,000 deaths connected to excessive waiting times — with ambulance response times a key factor in the delays that lead to patients deteriorating before reaching hospital care.

For the students approaching the end of three years of demanding clinical training, the human cost of the situation is clear. They trained to serve Welsh communities in some of the most pressured and critical moments of people’s lives. For now, Wales is turning them away.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Welsh Government under pressure over paramedic recruitment shortfall
Last year’s warning that this was coming — when only 20 of 67 graduates were offered posts. This year, the number is zero.

A&E crisis: Nearly 1,000 deaths in Wales linked to 12-hour waits as calls grow for urgent action
The wider emergency care crisis that makes turning away newly qualified paramedics even harder to justify.

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