RCN Wales launches nursing ‘manifesto’ for 2026 Senedd election

A new government in Wales must take action to ensure safe staffing in community settings, increase district nurse numbers and provide fair and competitive pay and professional development opportunities for nurses across the country, a new manifesto from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has demanded.

With the next Senedd election due to be held by 7 May 2026, RCN Wales has this week launched its manifesto – setting out its key priorities for an incoming government.

Based on the experiences of frontline nurses, the manifesto stressed that investment in nursing was key to safeguarding patients, eliminating corridor care and securing the future of the Welsh NHS.

And RCN Wales warned that, currently, nurses in the country felt ‘undervalued, overworked, and under supported’ and that ‘current efforts are not enough’.

The manifesto is centred on four key areas and themes:

• End corridor care
• Protect patient safety
• Nursing care at the heart of the community
• Wales needs nurses

Within this, RCN Wales has demanded that safe staffing legislation – which currently covers adult acute medical and surgical wards and paediatric inpatient wards – be extended to community nursing and mental health inpatient settings.

This would ensure the use of an ‘evidence-based method to set the nursing establishment needed to provide safe care to patients’, the manifesto said.

Increasing the specialist workforce

RCN Wales also called for a clear commitment to increasing the number of full-time equivalent district nurses and urged the incoming government to commission more educational places for district nurses.

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Fair access to career development, particularly for nurses and support staff in the independent care sector, is also essential, RCN Wales said.

Nurses in the independent sector must have access to commissioned postgraduate education, including Specialist Practitioner Qualifications, the manifesto added.

‘Two-thirds of our members are nursing in the community. District nurses, practice nurses, children’s nurses, community mental health nurses, frailty teams, nurses in care homes – our members provide the invisible glue bringing together health and social care,’ the manifesto said.

RCN Wales also stressed the need to ensure that strategic nursing leadership is embedded at every level, including by appointing a senior nurse to every primary care cluster.

Reforming residential nursing care funding

Within the first 50 days of the new government, RCN Wales wants to see a formal consultation on reforming the way residential nursing care is funded.

The union suggested exploring a shift away from individual patient assessments as the trigger for funding and towards a model where the NHS commissions nursing care capacity directly.

In addition, RCN Wales called for a review of current contracting arrangements in care homes, aiming to ensure that registered nurses can provide care to all residents, not just those who qualify for Continuing Health Care (CHC) funding.

Wales needs nurses

The manifesto sets out the need for NHS Wales staff to have flexible working opportunities and suggested the introduction of a 36-hour working week.

It is also called for financial fairness for student nurses, including full reimbursement of placement costs and the provision of free car parking for students while on clinical placement.

In terms of pay and conditions, the union said nurses in Wales must receive a fairer deal on pay and workload, distinct from the approach taken in other UK nations.

It urged the new government to ensure that ‘nursing staff in NHS Wales have the benefit that devolution can achieve for a better outcome in relation to pay, reduction in the working week and other terms and conditions’.

A ‘direct appeal’ from the nursing workforce

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Helen Whyley, executive director of RCN Wales, said the election marked a ‘defining moment for heath and care in Wales’.

‘The future of the Welsh NHS depends on the wellbeing and empowerment of its nursing workforce,’ she added.

‘This manifesto is not just a list of demands – it’s a blueprint for rebuilding trust, safety, and sustainability in our health system.’

RCN Wales has set out a series of recommendations that it expects the next Welsh Government to commit to in the first 50 days, six months and four years in office.

Ms Whyley outlined how from day one, RCN Wales will ask members of the Senedd to take ‘urgent steps to protect nursing and safeguard patient care’.

Within six months, Senedd members ‘must deliver meaningful change’.

Within four years, RCN Wales expects a ‘reformed and resilient health and care system that respects both the workforce and the people it serves’.

‘With the 2026 election drawing closer, the RCN is calling on all political parties to engage seriously with our manifesto and to listen carefully to the people keeping health and care services afloat.

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‘This is more than a policy document. It is a direct appeal from the nursing workforce to those aspiring to be in power: support us, or risk losing us,’ Ms Whyley warned.

A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said the NHS needs a ‘fresh start’ amid rising waiting lists and ‘crises across the board’.

‘We’re committed to developing a new workforce strategy for the NHS to better recognise the gaps and make health boards work together to share resources and staff more strategically and will look to improve the flexibility in nursing contracts in order to make the profession more attractive to both enter and stay.’

Nursing in Practice contacted all the major political parties in Wales for comment.