Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 2:29 pm on 5 October 2016.
I look forward to an increase in places, including of course in Bangor and other parts of Wales. I’d welcome any moves from Welsh Government—and I will continue to press Government and offer my co-operation—on the issue of increasing medical training places.
The Cabinet Secretary has, on numerous occasions, said that there are a record number of consultants and doctors in Wales. We’ve delved into these statistics a bit further. Out of the 65 hospital specialities with data on StatsWales, 32 of them have seen a decline in numbers over the past year, 13 have seen no change, and 20 have seen slight rises. One of those, vascular surgery, is up simply because it now counts as a separate specialism rather than being listed as general surgery. So, it remains a fact that more specialisms have seen a decline in numbers than have seen a rise in numbers. Are you happy with that state of affairs?