NHS Recruitment and Retention

Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:00 pm on 25 April 2018.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:00, 25 April 2018

There are challenges about population growth where it exists, and it's not just within the Cardiff area—though that is the most significant part—but it's also within north-east Wales. We've seen some areas of population growth there also. So, there's a broader challenge about managing that. There's something about the number of staff we have, but also the way in which those staff are organised, and so the way in which we organise local healthcare will matter, the numbers of doctors, but other professionals too.

There are conversations I've had with the local health board, both in my capacity as a constituency Member but also as the Cabinet Secretary, about what the future will look like. The challenge in resourcing, as ever, is that when we put extra resource into one part of the health service, it does not necessarily exist for another. That's also a challenge the Government faces when we are allocating our budget after eight years of reduction in the real-term budget. But we always need to look at how we have a more effective use of the resources we currently have, as well as the continual campaign for greater resources for public services here in Wales.