Written question WQ93637

Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) develops an annual Education and Training Commissioning Plan (ETP) in partnership with, and after extensive engagement with, stakeholders across NHS Wales. The ETP includes recommendations on a wide range of healthcare professional areas at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including specialty medical training posts.

Specialty medical training posts refers to those training posts at core and higher specialty level, based in secondary care. The recommendations included in the ETP are based on a range of data including projected need, national priorities and training capacity. New posts are distributed appropriately across health boards and NHS trusts in Wales.

Over the past five years, 327 new specialty training posts (excluding foundation and GP training posts) have been established and funded by the Welsh Government:

• August 2024 – 21 new posts

• August 2023 – 92 new posts

• August 2022 – 90 new posts

• August 2021 – 74 new posts

• August 2020 – 50 new posts

To provide further context, there were a total of 2,026 specialty grade doctors in August 2023.

These numbers represent the number of specialty training posts where new funding has been requested and will vary considerably year on year, depending on the priority areas reviewed and capacity. They do not represent the total number of posts that are advertised – as any posts that were funded through previous ETPs but not filled during recruitment processes are carried over and would not feature in these numbers.

Between 2020 and 2023, a significant number of new posts were funded and established. Whilst the current financial position has resulted in lower numbers of new posts for an August 2024 start, there has still been a significant increase, demonstrating the ongoing commitment to increase the number of posts aligned to the current and future needs of the population of Wales.