It’s no secret that Wales is grappling with a recruitment crisis within our NHS, struggling to recruit and retain both doctors and nurses.

Horror stories from A&E waiting rooms across the country have sadly become common place and we are all well aware of the 8am scramble to secure a GP appointment.

This is by no means a reflection on the NHS’s hardworking existing staff, it’s more of a damning indictment of the severe mismanagement from successive Labour Governments.

Given the current workforce challenges within the health service, you can imagine my shock when proposals were announced recently to scrap the nursing school at Cardiff University.

Sadly, the nursing course isn’t the only one in the firing line. A range of different subjects are also poised for the axe and some 400 jobs are hanging in the balance as Cardiff University faces a bleak financial picture.

Yet it is hard to understand the decision to effectively reduce the amount of students studying to become nurses in Wales.

The decision has been met with dismay from the Royal College of Nurses (RCN) with the Executive Director saying the decision has “the potential to threaten the pipeline of registered nurses into the largest health board in Wales and undermines efforts to address the critical staffing crisis in the NHS and social care.”

The Welsh Government has a duty to ensure there are no gaps in the ability to deliver fully qualified nurse practitioners into a health service that desperately needs them. Additionally, Labour must be clear on what discussions they have had or plan with University Health Boards in the surrounding area with regards to their capacity to pick up some of the slack.

The root cause of all of this is Labour’s decision to slash not just the higher education budget, and the failure of their education policies which have seen us having the lowest school standards of anywhere in the United Kingdom.

Not content with failing schools, Labour seems intent to do all they can to make it difficult for higher education institutions. The recent decision from the Labour Chancellor to increase National Insurance contributions for employers will hit businesses across Wales, including universities.

After 26 years of Labour failure in education, it’s clear that only the Welsh Conservatives have the solutions to fix these deep-rooted problems and secure a brighter future for Wales.