<p>Training Doctors in North Wales</p>

Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 3:07 pm on 13 July 2016.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:07, 13 July 2016

Thank you for the question. I recognise what you say about the profile of GPs in a range of different communities, including across north Wales. That’s why it’s important that we have new models of care that actually provide the sort of care people will want, and that new GPs will want to go into, because there is a change in the way that we provide the service and how people expect to work. That’s why part of what I’m looking at is the exposure that doctors have in training to primary care at an earlier stage, because there’s good evidence and logic to say that, if that happens, people are more likely to want to opt in to a career in primary care as well. That has the support, again, of our key stakeholders, as something for us to look at.

In terms of your point about a new medical school, I recognise why the Member would want to make a bid for a new medical school in her constituency, and I recognise the real interest there is in this particular area. What I’ve said, and what I will do, is I’ll look at the case for a new medical school. I’ve asked officials to do some work on what that might or might not look like, because if the evidence is there that it’s something we could do and it would deliver on what we want it to—that it would recruit people, and that it would help us—then I’m interested in seeing what that means and how we could achieve that. I also want to see what currently exists with the clinical school and the arrangements for training in north Wales, even if there is not a new medical school. So, I will be guided by, practically, what we can do and what we should do to ensure that we more doctors in training and more doctors who are interested in working in the various different parts of Wales, including the position you described in north Wales.