Written question WQ87582
- Asked by
- Andrew RT DaviesConservative
- To be answered by
- Minister for Health and Social Services
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 6 days
Question
What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the number of occupational health consultants that should be practicing across Wales concurrently?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Health and Social Services
Officials have led work to support the development of a more equitable and sustainable occupational health provision for NHS Wales services. Through engagement and discussions by an Occupational Health Programme Development Expert Group who met during Summer 2022, priorities were identified to address urgent issues impacting on occupational health workforce planning.
Work is ongoing by NHS Wales Shared Services to map the occupational health workforce in order to agree and adopt an appropriate demand and capacity model. This will be used to provide an accurate current state analysis of the occupational health workforce, including occupational health physicians, and also consider the implications of changes in service delivery on future workforce needs.
This work will support our commitment to providing a plan for the development of occupational health provision for NHS Wales in the National Workforce Implementation Plan.