Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:33 pm on 1 May 2018.
Yes, it's true that the introduction of IR35 in the medical profession has probably led locum GPs to consider their taxation affairs. Taxation policy is not devolved to the Welsh Government, but it does affect, obviously, our GP workforce in the same way as it does across the rest of the UK. It's not absolutely clear how it's affecting individual career decisions by GPs, but there are many other factors currently in play like professional indemnity and last person in a practice liability and that sort of thing.
Of course, we have a different model in Wales as well to support this, and whilst the independent practitioner model has served us well for many years, many GP practices are finding it challenging to respond in the current situation. So, we are looking at different ways of providing that, including employed practices, and facilitating locums where younger doctors do want the flexibility that being a locum provides. So, we are looking at very different ways of providing that, alongside the multidisciplinary practices that we're also looking to implement in large numbers of practices in Wales.