Written question WQ83638
- Asked by
- Andrew RT DaviesConservative
- To be answered by
- Minister for Health and Social Services
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 8 days
Question
Will the Minister outline the Welsh Government and Health Education and Improvement Wales policies to attract medical and allied health professional students graduating in England to work in Wales, including those students who have originated from or are living in Wales but are studying in England?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Health and Social Services
Wales has a long and proud history of welcoming healthcare professionals from outside Wales and we continue to promote healthcare careers in Wales through our Train Work Live marketing campaign.
The Welsh Government is committed to providing the NHS with the workforce it needs to meet demand. Last December, for the seventh consecutive year the Welsh Government announced an increase in funding to support education and training programmes for healthcare professionals in Wales. The £227.901m investment package represented an increase of 8.3% compared with 2020/21. Training places increased for doctors, nurses, midwives and many other health professions that are the backbone of our health service.
The Welsh bursary scheme was introduced in 2017 for a range of health professional courses, with the aim of bolstering the healthcare workforce in Wales. Students who take the Welsh bursary benefit from significant financial support during their programme, in return for committing to work in Wales for at least two years on graduation. To support our students into jobs in Wales, the Student Streamlining Project was introduced whereby healthcare graduate students from Welsh Universities are matched to appropriate job vacancies in Wales. The streamlining programme covers graduate nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and healthcare scientists.
This year, the Student Streamlining process has allocated newly qualified graduates positions within NHS Wales; 374 allied health professionals / healthcare scientists; 780 nurses and 103 midwives. Of these, various newly qualified graduates are currently completing their pre-employment checks and waiting to receive their professional registration prior to commencing with Health Boards / Trusts.
There are currently 348 nursing graduate vacancies being advertised in Wales via the student streamlining process.
Outside of the streamlining process, the following NHS Wales vacancies are being advertised on NHS Jobs which reaches health professionals from across the UK (as of 21 October 2021):
Staff Group TOTAL
Count of Vacancy
Sum of WTE
Allied Health Professionals
119
180.11
Medical & Dental
98
117.83
Nursing & Midwifery Registered
301
765.74
Grand Total
518
1063.68