Written question WQ97120
- Asked by
- Janet Finch-SaundersConservative
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 7 days
Question
What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of the impact reduced numbers of resident doctors practicing in Wales will have on treatment pathway waiting times?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
The NHS in Wales now has more doctors than at any point in its history, including over 3,000 full time equivalent consultants – a 17% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels.
We have supported a significant increase in the number of postgraduate medical training posts and since 2019, there has been an increase of 342 specialty training posts and 222 foundation posts. We now have approximately 1,900 trainees in secondary care training programmes, and 900 in foundation training, as well as 160 GP training places every year.
We are investing £294m on training new members of the workforce. NHS Wales continues to ethically recruit international healthcare professionals to help fill hard-to-recruit roles.
Delivering planned care pathways requires a range of health professionals and through the NHS workforce plans we are striving to ensure we continue to build the staff resources we require to deliver the services we expect for Wales.