NHS employer · Cardiff, Wales
Nursing careers at Digital Health and Care Wales
Digital Health and Care Wales is a specialist trust based in Cardiff, Wales, organisation code L5X6M. Workforce and staff survey figures for this organisation are not in the open dataset yet, so this page does not state any. What it does cover is what the organisation type means for your caseload and preceptorship, where it sits, and which universities nearby train the roles it employs.
What working here is like
A specialist trust concentrates on one field — children’s services, cancer, orthopaedics, eyes, heart and lung, or neurosciences — often as a regional or national referral centre. The caseload is narrow and complex: patients are referred in precisely because their care is beyond what a district general hospital provides.
That changes the shape of a nursing career. You go deep quickly and work alongside people who do nothing else, which is unusually good for developing an advanced clinical specialism — a dedicated children’s hospital is where a large share of children’s nursing posts outside general acute settings sit — but you see less breadth than a rotation through a general hospital would give you. Posts here are frequently specialist from appointment rather than rotational, and some specialist centres recruit at band 6 rather than band 5 for that reason.
None of that is specific to Digital Health and Care Wales — it is what the organisation type tells you, and it is the part that reliably holds. The parts that vary between two organisations of the same type are the size of each ward or team, how the preceptorship year is structured, how much band 6 progression is built into the establishment, and how far apart the sites are. Those are questions for the recruitment page and for the informal visit that most nursing teams will happily arrange before you apply. Digital Health and Care Wales’s own website is the authoritative source for current vacancies and department structure.
- Organisation type
- Specialist trust
- Based in
- Cardiff
- Nation
- Wales
- ODS code
- L5X6M
- Pay scale that applies
- Agenda for Change 2026/27, Wales
- Website
- dhcw.nhs.wales
Nursing roles employed here
Based on what specialist trusts run rather than on a published staff list: these are the professions whose services this kind of organisation provides. Each page covers the caseload, the pay ladder and where the local courses are.
Adult Nurse at Digital Health and Care Wales
Adults of all ages with acute and long-term conditions, and their families, across hospital, outpatient, home and community settings.
Children's Nurse at Digital Health and Care Wales
Babies, children and young people from birth to adolescence, and their parents or guardians.
Learning Disability Nurse at Digital Health and Care Wales
People with learning disabilities and their families, across the lifespan and across health, social care and education settings.
Mental Health Nurse at Digital Health and Care Wales
People experiencing a wide range of mental health conditions, across inpatient, specialist and community settings.
Nursing Associate at Digital Health and Care Wales
Patients across all four nursing fields, working alongside healthcare support workers and registered nurses.
Where it is, and who trains near it
Digital Health and Care Wales sits in Cardiff, Wales. Geography matters in nursing recruitment, because pre-registration courses carry a large block of supervised clinical practice and those placements are commissioned with the trusts and boards nearest the university. Students placed with an organisation know its systems, its staff and its patients before they graduate, and a substantial share of newly qualified appointments go to people who were placed there. No university in the dataset is recorded as running an approved nursing course in this area, so placements here are likely to come from providers further afield.
Pay is a national question rather than a local one: Digital Health and Care Wales pays the Wales Agenda for Change rates for 2026/27, the same as every other NHS employer in the nation. What does vary between employers is everything around the salary: how long a rotation lasts, how much protected time you get for supervision and continuing professional development, whether band 6 progression is planned into the establishment, and how far you will drive between sites.
Other NHS organisations in Wales
The realistic alternatives if you are looking for a first post in this area — they pay the same bands, so the difference is the caseload.
| Organisation | Type | Based in |
|---|---|---|
| Aneurin Bevan University Health Board | Health board | Newport |
| Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board | Health board | Bangor |
| Cardiff and Vale University Health Board | Health board | Cardiff |
| Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board | Health board | Pontypridd |
| Health Education and Improvement Wales | Specialist trust | Cardiff |
| Hywel Dda University Health Board | Health board | Carmarthen |
| Powys Teaching Health Board | Health board | Brecon |
| Public Health Wales NHS Trust | Specialist trust | Cardiff |
| Swansea Bay University Health Board | Health board | Neath |
| Velindre University NHS Trust | Specialist trust | Cardiff |
| Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust | Ambulance service | St Asaph |
How the pay ladder works here
The same four steps apply at every NHS employer; what differs is how quickly the posts come up.
Next steps
- All NHS employers — Grouped by nation and region
- Wales pay scales — Every band, every point
- The nursing job market — Workforce and vacancies by profession
- Universities — Where the placements come from
- The professions — What each job actually involves
- Training routes — Degree, master’s or apprenticeship
Where this page’s data comes from
This page publishes the organisation record and the national pay scale only. No workforce, staff survey or inspection figures for this organisation are in the open dataset yet.
- NMC register data reports, pre-registration standards and registration codesNursing and Midwifery Council · NMC website terms and conditions (no open licence; clause 6.3 permits reproducing rules/standards/guidance only) · updated annual · checked 3 September 2026
- Royal College of Nursing membership and professional body informationRoyal College of Nursing · No open licence stated; RCN copyright · checked 3 September 2026
- NHS Health Careers role profiles, pay guide and course finderNHS England (Health Careers) · No open licence stated; NHS England (Health Careers) copyright, all rights reserved · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026
- Skills England apprenticeship standards (Registered Nurse Degree, Nursing Associate)Skills England (Department for Education); formerly Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education · Open Government Licence v3.0 · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- NHS Learning Support Fund guidanceDepartment of Health and Social Care (administered by NHS Business Services Authority) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · updated annual · checked 3 September 2026Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- NHSBSA Learning Support Fund course-eligibility FAQNHS Business Services Authority · Generic 'all rights reserved' footer on this subdomain; NHSBSA's own OGL policy is not explicitly restated here · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026
- directory.spineservices.nhs.ukCited page
- dhcw.nhs.walesCited page