Written question WQ96322

The Welsh Government continues to invest record levels in the education and training of healthcare professionals. This reflects the importance of the development of the NHS workforce and ensuring the health service has the staff it needs now and for the future.

Despite the extremely challenging financial situation facing the Welsh Government, and in recognition of the importance of our NHS workforce, on 5 February I announced an investment of £294million for the education and training of healthcare professions for the academic year 2025/26.

Through the annual Education and Training Commissioning Plan process, Health Education Improvement Wales (HEIW) advises Welsh Government on the number of new medical training posts based on predicted population needs and training capacity. These recommendations are considered in the context of available resource.

Since 2019 there has been an increase of 342 Specialty Training posts and 222 Foundation posts. There are now approximately 1900 trainees in secondary care and 900 in foundation training¹.

Since August 2020 we have increased our Anaesthetics training programme by 10 posts at core level and 15 posts at the higher level. Alongside this we have also increased posts in the Acute Care Common Stem Emergency Medicine theme by 13 posts which also includes an Anaesthetics component. Further expansion in Anaesthetics has been limited across Wales by novice capacity and the ability to undertake certain key modules.

HEIW are responsible for submitting the annual Education and Training Plan to the Welsh Government. The draft plan for 2026/27 will be submitted shortly.

¹ For clarity, the numbers included within the annual Education and Training Plan illustrate the annual increase in numbers.