Find nursing shifts across Wales
Book NHS and care shifts from Cardiff and Swansea to Aberystwyth, Bangor and Wrexham in a few taps, see your confirmed pay before you accept, and get paid without chasing timesheets. Novello is built for nurses and carers who want steady work close to home.
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Leave your details and we’ll come back to you with the nursing, care and support shifts we have near you in Wales — and what they pay. It takes about twenty seconds.
Nursing in Wales
Why nurses choose Novello in Wales
Work that fits around your life, with none of the usual agency runaround.
Shifts near you, not the length of the country
Whether you are in Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Bridgend, Carmarthen, Aberystwyth, Bangor or Wrexham, you pick the shifts that suit you. The app shows what is available nearby, so you are not driving from the Valleys to the north coast for a single shift.
Confirmed pay before you say yes
Every shift shows its confirmed rate in the app before you accept, so you know exactly what you will earn, and you are paid promptly with no chasing timesheets or waiting weeks to find out where you stand.
Compliance sorted once, then out of your way
We handle your DBS, mandatory training and NMC revalidation properly, and we know what CIW-registered services and Social Care Wales registration ask for. Sort it once and you can move between a hospital ward in Cardiff, a care home in Gwynedd and a secure unit in the south without repeating the same paperwork for every placement.
The country we cover
The healthcare landscape in Wales
Health and social care in Wales is devolved to the Welsh Government, and a country of just over 3.1 million people is served by seven local health boards, three all-Wales NHS trusts and a care sector that leans heavily on flexible nursing staff.
NHS Wales is organised into health boards rather than trusts, and each one runs its own hospitals. Cardiff and Vale University Health Board runs the University Hospital of Wales at Heath Park, the largest hospital in the country, along with University Hospital Llandough. Aneurin Bevan University Health Board covers Gwent from The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, the specialist critical care hospital that opened in 2020, with the Royal Gwent in Newport, Nevill Hall in Abergavenny and Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr behind it. Swansea Bay University Health Board runs Morriston and Singleton hospitals in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot Hospital, while Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board covers Prince Charles in Merthyr Tydfil, the Royal Glamorgan at Llantrisant and the Princess of Wales in Bridgend. Further west, Hywel Dda University Health Board runs Bronglais in Aberystwyth, Glangwili in Carmarthen, Prince Philip in Llanelli and Withybush in Haverfordwest. In the north, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is the largest health organisation in Wales, serving around 694,000 people from Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd at Bodelwyddan and Wrexham Maelor Hospital. Powys Teaching Health Board is unique in having no district general hospital at all, running a network of community hospitals from Bronllys, Brecon and Llandrindod Wells to Newtown, Welshpool and Machynlleth instead.
On top of the health boards sit three all-Wales NHS trusts: Velindre University NHS Trust, which runs the Velindre Cancer Centre at Whitchurch in Cardiff and the Welsh Blood Service, the Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust, and Public Health Wales NHS Trust. Major trauma splits in two. The South Wales Trauma Network launched in September 2020 with its major trauma centre for adults and children at the University Hospital of Wales, which is also the country’s only neurosurgery centre and home to Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales, supported by trauma units such as Morriston. North Wales sits instead in the North West Midlands and North Wales network, so its most seriously injured patients go to Royal Stoke University Hospital across the border. Social care is regulated by Care Inspectorate Wales, healthcare services are inspected by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, and around 100,224 full-time equivalent staff were directly employed by NHS Wales at the end of 2025, with nursing, midwifery and health visiting the largest staff group by some distance.
Where we work
Where we cover in Wales
From the cities of the south coast and the Valleys out to rural mid and west Wales and up to the north coast, we place nurses and carers across every setting.
Hospitals and theatres
We support wards, day units and operating theatres across all seven health boards, from the University Hospital of Wales and The Grange in the south east to Morriston in Swansea, the Princess of Wales in Bridgend, Glangwili in Carmarthen and Ysbyty Gwynedd and Wrexham Maelor in the north.
Care homes and community
Nursing and residential homes across Wales rely on regular agency cover, and the domiciliary sector is growing fast. We place carers and nurses into CIW-registered services and community rounds, from Cardiff and Swansea to the rural communities served by Powys’s community hospital model.
Mental health and secure care
We cover mental health inpatient units and secure and forensic settings, from Hafan y Coed at University Hospital Llandough and St Cadoc’s in Caerleon to Glanrhyd and the Caswell Clinic in Bridgend, Cefn Coed in Swansea and the Hergest Unit in Bangor, as well as nurse-led healthcare inside prisons such as HMP Berwyn and HMP Cardiff.
That takes in Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Wrexham, Bangor, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Llanelli, Carmarthen, Aberystwyth, Haverfordwest, Cwmbran, Abergavenny, Neath, Port Talbot, Llandrindod Wells and Newtown, along with the towns and villages between them.
Bordering areas we also cover include the North West, the West Midlands and the South West.
On the map
Nursing shifts across Wales
We cover the whole country, from Cardiff, Newport and Swansea up through mid and west Wales to Bangor and Wrexham.
Specialisms in Wales
Specialisms we cover across Wales
Whatever your ward or setting, from the teaching hospitals of Cardiff to care homes in Gwynedd and secure units in the Valleys, there is regular work here.
- Nursing & care homes
- Mental health
- Prison nursing
- Critical care
- Theatres
Nursing & care homes
Care in Wales is regulated by Care Inspectorate Wales, and the numbers show why cover is in constant demand. At 31 March 2025 CIW had 1,018 adult care homes and 750 domiciliary support services registered, the latter up almost 8 per cent in a year. Care home capacity has not kept pace with an ageing population, and occupancy across the sector is running high. Quality is holding up, with 84 per cent of adult social care inspection ratings in 2024-25 rated good or excellent, but homes and home-care services across the country still need steady, reliable agency cover, and it is some of the most consistent work we offer.
Mental health
Mental health work runs the length of the country. Cardiff and Vale’s Hafan y Coed at University Hospital Llandough is a purpose-built 135-bed adult unit covering crisis assessment, low secure, rehabilitation, psychiatric intensive care and neuropsychiatry. Aneurin Bevan runs St Cadoc’s Hospital in Caerleon, Swansea Bay has Cefn Coed in Swansea along with the medium-secure Caswell Clinic and the low-secure Taith Newydd, both on the Glanrhyd site in Bridgend, Cwm Taf Morgannwg’s main site is Glanrhyd Hospital in Bridgend, and Betsi Cadwaladr runs acute inpatient units at Ysbyty Gwynedd’s Hergest Unit in Bangor and the Ablett Unit at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, with forensic medium secure and learning disability beds at Bryn y Neuadd in Llanfairfechan. We place mental health nurses and support workers into inpatient wards, community teams and secure units.
Prison nursing
Wales has five prisons, all of them for men, with one in the north and four in the south. HMP Berwyn near Wrexham is the largest prison in the UK, with capacity for around 2,106 men, and opened in 2017. In the south there is HMP Cardiff, HMP Swansea, HMP and YOI Parc in Bridgend, which is the only privately run prison in Wales, and HMP Usk in Monmouthshire with its open satellite HMP Prescoed. Prison healthcare is nurse-led and always short of hands, and it is some of the most rewarding work going for nurses who want something different from a ward.
Critical care
Critical care in Wales centres on the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, the major trauma centre for the South Wales Trauma Network since 2020 for both adults and children, and the only place in the country with specialist neurosurgery. It is backed by The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, the specialist critical care hospital for Gwent, by trauma units such as Morriston in Swansea, and by the acute hospitals of the west and north. North Wales has no major trauma centre of its own, so its most serious cases route to Royal Stoke University Hospital in England. We place experienced ITU and HDU nurses where the pressure is highest.
Theatres
Theatre work spans the whole country. Morriston Hospital in Swansea carries an unusual concentration of specialist surgery: the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, which serves around ten million people from Aberystwyth to Oxford and Portsmouth and treats roughly 750 burns patients a year, one of only two cardiac centres in Wales, the bariatric service for Wales and the regional cleft lip and palate service. Add the surgical lists at the University Hospital of Wales, The Grange, the Royal Glamorgan, Glangwili, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and Wrexham Maelor, and there is steady work for scrub, anaesthetic and recovery nurses across elective and emergency lists.
Care & support work in Wales
Care and support work in Wales
Most care in Wales is delivered by care assistants and support workers rather than registered nurses. An estimated 82,875 people work in social care across Wales, staffing more than 1,000 adult care homes and a fast-growing home-care sector regulated by Care Inspectorate Wales. The work spans elderly care homes, supported living and specialist neuro-rehabilitation, and whatever your background there is regular work near you.
- Care assistant
- Support worker
- Dementia care
- Brain injury
Care assistant
Wales has some of the oldest local populations in Britain: at the 2021 Census, Powys (27.8%), Conwy (27.4%) and the Isle of Anglesey (26.4%) had the highest proportions of people aged 65 and over anywhere in the country. That ageing profile keeps its 1,018 adult care homes registered with Care Inspectorate Wales busy, and bed capacity has not kept pace. Care assistants are the backbone of these homes, supporting residents with everyday living, personal care and companionship.
Support worker
Social care in Wales runs under its own law — the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 — which places a duty on councils to promote independence and give people voice and control over their support. That has pushed demand towards support in people’s own homes: Care Inspectorate Wales had 750 domiciliary support services registered at 31 March 2025, up almost 8% in a year. It means steady work for support workers who help the people they support live as independently as possible, in their own homes and out in the community rather than in a care-home setting.
Dementia care
An estimated 46,800 older people are living with dementia across Wales, and by 2040 the number of older people with dementia here is projected to rise by roughly 70%. Dementia is one of the main drivers of demand in Welsh care homes, and services are coordinated through the country’s local health boards. Dementia care is some of the most valued work in the sector, supporting residents to live well day to day.
Brain injury
Wales runs its specialist brain and spinal rehabilitation from one all-Wales hub: The Llandough Centre for Specialist Spinal and Neurological Rehabilitation at University Hospital Llandough, which took over from Rookwood Hospital in 2021 with a 24-bed neuro-rehabilitation ward and a 26-bed spinal cord injury ward serving patients from across the country. Rehabilitation support workers here help the people they support rebuild skills and independence after a brain or spinal injury, work closely related to the complex-care roles that involve tracheostomy and other clinical support.
Not sure which fits? See all care & support roles →
The Novello app
Your work life, in one app
Find Wales shifts, see your confirmed pay and keep your compliance in one place. No more chasing paperwork. Everything you need, on iOS and Android.
For Wales employers
Need nurses in Wales?
We help services across the country fill shifts fast, with staff who are checked and ready.
Whether you run a care home in Gwynedd, a ward in Cardiff or Swansea, a mental health unit in Gwent or a theatre list in Wrexham, we can supply compliant nurses and carers at short notice, including staff who can offer care in Welsh where that matters to the people you support. Tell us what you need and we will match reliable local staff who know the setting.
Reviews
Don't just take our word for it.
Novello are highly professional, making the onboarding process easier. What I like most is the fact I can book shifts on the app at my own convenience!
Sarah Theatre
Very competent staff and a welcoming, supportive team. What I like most is the variety of shifts in the Novello app!
Khadra RGN
Everything is really simple. The whole process of joining, and then finding and booking shifts. It's so simple!
Dan SFA
Frameworks & accreditations
Good to know
Wales nursing agency FAQs
What kind of nursing shifts can I pick up in Wales?
Plenty. We cover acute wards and theatres across all seven health boards, from Cardiff and Vale and Aneurin Bevan in the south east to Swansea Bay and Cwm Taf Morgannwg, Hywel Dda in the west, Powys in mid Wales and Betsi Cadwaladr in the north, along with care homes, community rounds, mental health units and prison healthcare.
Which parts of Wales do you cover?
All of it. North Wales, mid Wales, south west Wales and south east Wales, taking in Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Wrexham, Bangor, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Carmarthen, Aberystwyth and Haverfordwest.
How does pay work?
Every shift shows its confirmed rate in the app before you accept, so you always know exactly what you will earn. You are paid promptly, with no chasing timesheets or waiting weeks to find out where you stand.
Do you place mental health and prison nurses in Wales?
Yes. We place nurses and support workers into inpatient, secure and forensic settings such as Hafan y Coed in Llandough, St Cadoc's in Caerleon, the Caswell Clinic in Bridgend and the Hergest Unit in Bangor, as well as nurse-led healthcare inside prisons including HMP Berwyn, HMP Cardiff, HMP Swansea and HMP Parc.
I am an employer in Wales. Can you help us with staffing?
Yes. We supply checked, compliant nurses and carers to health board hospitals, CIW-registered care homes, mental health units and secure settings across Wales, often at short notice. Get in touch and we will help you fill your rota.
Ready to work on your terms in Wales?
Join Novello and start booking NHS and care shifts from Cardiff and Swansea to Aberystwyth, Bangor and Wrexham today, with your confirmed rate shown before you accept and real support behind you. Download the app or get in touch to get started.
Call 0333 307 8897 · hello@novellohealthcare.com
