Cancer Diagnosis

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:10 pm on 15 January 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:10, 15 January 2020

Well, actually, the good news is that we've filled all of our histopathology training places this year, but I'm aware of not just the role that histopathologists have within cancer but more broadly as well, and there is the point about retaining those people during the course of their training and afterwards as well. And it is, as I said in discussion earlier with Mark Reckless, only partly about the pay. It is also about the broader conditions of service and the direction of travel that we have as well. And as we get into having a fully fledged health and social care workforce strategy, we'll have a strategic plan for that to hang around as well. But we are already taking action. As you've seen, we're obviously increasing places, there's the extra priority and, like I said, it is encouraging, of course, that we filled all of those places this year. But it is a matter that's constantly kept under review because, as we want to expand and more successfully deliver the single cancer pathway, we'll need to look again at the workforce we have and the workforce that we need.