RCP Cymru Wales has welcomed an oral statement by health minister Mabon ap Gwynfor on a long-term NHS Wales workforce strategy, as reported by the Royal College of Physicians, and is calling for physicians to have a strong voice in shaping it, giving HR and workforce planning teams in health and care a view of the workforce pressures at stake. 

RCP Cymru Wales is the Welsh arm of the Royal College of Physicians, a London-based registered charity, represented in the statement by Professor Sam Rice, joint vice president, according to the RCP.

The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales, whose health minister made the statement in the Senedd on 3 November 2026, according to the Welsh Government.

The strategic logic is whole-system planning. According to the Royal College of Physicians, RCP Cymru Wales wants the strategy to address workforce pressures across the whole health and care system, including capacity and staffing challenges in secondary care.

Professor Sam Rice, joint vice president for RCP Cymru Wales, said in a statement published by the Royal College of Physicians on 5 November 2026: “Physicians across Wales tell us that workforce pressures are affecting their ability to provide safe, timely care.”

The structural driver is demand and staffing. Rice said demand on hospitals continues to grow as more people live longer with complex medical needs, with too few staff in the right places, contributing to burnout and corridor care, according to the same statement.

Rice said: “If more care is to be delivered closer to home, we must ensure there is a clear plan for the workforce needed to support these new models of care while maintaining safe staffing and capacity in hospitals.”

The strategy follows the minister’s earlier plans, reported by Nation.Cymru, for up to 100 new salaried GPs and up to ten surgical and diagnostic hubs.

For the sector, the response shows a clinical body asking that NHS workforce planning cover hospitals as well as community care, with physician input before the strategy is published, according to the Royal College of Physicians.