The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has published its manifesto for the 2026 Senedd election, calling on all political parties to commit to urgent action to address the medical workforce crisis, tackle health inequalities and fix social care in Wales.
The RCP’s manifesto, developed in partnership with NHS physicians in Wales, highlights the stark reality of care being delivered in corridors and the growing challenge of an overstretched medical workforce.
New data from the General Medical Council show that the Welsh NHS scores lower than the UK average on staffing, overtime, workload, leadership and patient flow.
The Senedd election in 2026 is a vital opportunity to turn this around.
The RCP calls on the next Welsh government to:
- Develop a long-term NHS workforce plan to recruit, retain and support doctors across Wales. 81% of doctors in Wales say that NHS staffing is inadequate (compared with 72% across the UK), and 66% work beyond their contracted hours at least once a week (compared with 62% across the UK), risking burnout and impacting patient safety. A long-term health and care workforce plan should set out a new approach to recruitment and retention in Wales, consider the impact of changing working patterns, tackle rural recruitment issues and address wider issues with infrastructure, technology and working environments. A focus on the challenges facing our early career doctors, like growing competition ratios and insufficient training posts, is also vital.
- Deliver a cross-government action plan on health inequalities and tackle prevention. Nearly one-quarter of Welsh households and 31% of children are thought to live in poverty. If we’re going to get to grips with demand for NHS services in Wales, we need to tackle the deepening poverty and decline in living standards, which is increasing sickness and ill health. We need a cross-government action plan to tackle health inequalities in Wales, alongside action to improve air quality, reduce obesity and tackle harms from smoking and alcohol.
- Transform social care with a fully costed plan to increase capacity and reduce delayed discharge. 69% of doctors in Wales say that poor patient flow and a lack of bed capacity are barriers to good care, compared with a UK average of 56%. This pressure on the Welsh NHS leads to unsafe and unacceptable corridor care and often stems from delays in transferring patients out of hospital, which takes several weeks on average. A fully costed plan for social care is needed to address bed capacity, reduce delayed discharge and eliminate corridor care.