Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 2:51 pm on 17 May 2017.
The honest and mature approach that I thought we would have to discussing healthcare in the future, which was taken by the parliamentary review, of course, doesn’t exist when it comes to ministerial questions. The reality is we are recruiting more GPs. We are training more GPs in Wales. We’ll have a more successful approach in the future. The Train, Work, Live campaign has been significantly successful in us actually having more GPs coming into Wales. I expect to see, as we make commissioning decisions in the future, that we will properly take account of the workforce planning that we need to do, in a much more joined-up way. There has been real improvement in this area.
Now, when you then talk about 1,000 extra doctors as the answer, well, that’s what we’d politely call an aspirational target—not a real or an achievable one. In this position, in the Government, you have to commit to things that will make a difference. That’s what I’m doing in this, and I’m proud of the fact that we are making a real difference for people right across the medical workforce here in Wales. And I say that every Member is entitled to stand up for their local community and ask awkward questions of health boards and me. That includes the Member for Llanelli, who is standing up for his community and asking what arrangements will be in place for the future of primary care. I don’t complain about that from any Member in this place, and nor should I. That’s people doing their job. I just wish we could have a much more honest and grown-up conversation between ourselves in this Chamber, as well as outside of it.