Staff shortages due to Covid continue to bite in the public sector in Wales
A and E Department at Morriston Hospital and Rail Network among areas affected
Public sector bosses are being told to prepare for the "worst case scenario" of staff absence levels of 25 percent due to Covid.
Its as First Minister Mark Drakeford warns of a "challenging January"
Swansea Bay NHS have already been warning a staff shortage worsened by Covid means they can only provide a limited service at Morriston Hospital's emergency department over the bank holiday weekend.
Meanwhile Transport for Wales have already scaled back their timetable due to staff illness- with more changes due tomorrow.
TfW introduced an emergency rail timetable from 22 December, which equated to a reduction of between 10-15% of the standard timetable introduced on 12 December. However, with staff absences continuing to increase, the company is introducing more cuts to services tomorrow.
The new timetable focuses on parts of the rail network suffering from particularly high staff absence.
The new timetable will remain in place over the coming weeks and will be reviewed regularly as the rail industry in Wales monitors the impact of the new Omicron variant on staff levels.
Jan Chaudhry-Van de Velde, Managing Director of TfW Rail, said:
“We are very much dealing with the Omicron wave of Covid infections and, like many public service organisations, have seen a major rise in colleague absences over the last few weeks.
“It’s fundamental we continue to run as reliable a service as possible for our customers and therefore we are introducing a revised timetable from 3 January, reducing the risk of late notice cancellations.
“Wherever we can, we’ll use additional carriages made available due to the reduced timetable to run longer trains, which will help with social distancing. We’ll also provide supplementary road transport, where possible.
“We appreciate this will be frustrating for some customers, and we have not taken this decision lightly. We ask that all customers check online before they travel and follow current government advice. Our aim is to restore the timetable as soon as absence rates caused by this wave of the pandemic allow.”
Boris Johnson has asked the UK government to work with industries on contingency plans.
Meanwhile face coverings are once again being made mandatory in secondary schools across England.
That brings schools there in line with Wales where pupils had to start wearing masks again before Christmas.