8. Will the Minister make a statement on doctor recruitment? OAQ(5)0029(HWS)

Thank you for the question. We will continue to work in partnership with health boards and trusts to market Wales and the NHS Wales as an attractive place for doctors to train, work and live. We will continue to prioritise those hard-to-fill specialties where recruitment challenges remain right across the UK.

Minister, Cwm Taf local health board tell me that the reason that they are closing Horeb Surgery in Treorchy is because they can’t get another GP to work there; the existing GP is now going to work elsewhere having begged the health board for assistance. One colleague is working at the surgery for nothing at the moment in order to help her colleague out. The reputation of the health board has suffered amongst GPs as a result of the way that they’ve handled the Horeb Surgery situation, and that will undoubtedly impact on their ability to attract GPs to the area in the future. Now, you questioned earlier on the need for 400 new GPs; that’s the figure that’s been put out there. If it’s not 400 GPs, how many do you think we need to overcome these problems? What responsibility do you take as health Minister for the lack of workforce planning and for the shortage of GPs, which has led to this decision? Do you take any responsibility at all for the closure of this surgery in Treorchy?

Thank you for the question. It is, of course, a matter of fact that we have more GPs than ever before in the health service; the challenge always is how many staff we need at what grades to provide the quality of care that people will rightly expect, and it will be a changing model of care. Horeb is an example of a model of care where they could not recruit and they couldn’t attract other GPs to work in that particular model. I do need to correct part of the statement; the health board have not closed this practice. This practice has returned its contract. It has said it won’t be providing GP services. That is not the same as saying the health board have closed the practice. In fact, patients are being properly cared for; they will be provided with alternative GP services within the local area—in the very local area, in fact; there are a range of GP practices within the town. My concern is how we remodel primary care to make sure that people do have high-quality care within their local communities. That’s why we’re looking at the work that clusters do, and I’m really encouraged by the work of clusters right across Wales, because I expect that in the future, there will be fewer but larger primary care practices. I expect that will happen by means of amalgamations and federations, and I think that will actually provide a more stable service and a better service with a wider range of services for people. It’s also why we have to talk about other primary care professionals, because if you were listening to the earlier answers about the need to make sure that therapist services are available and the need to make sure that advanced nurse practitioners are available and the role of pharmacists, that’s actually easier to do and to achieve in a different model of care. We see that in north Wales in Prestatyn, where we’ve remodelled the service with a number of GPs and other healthcare professionals for the same level of income, but a broader and better service that people are really enthusiastic about working in, and patients themselves recognise that they have not seen any fall in the quality of care they are provided with, and actually people are really enthusiastic about that model. There is a time and a space for a sensible conversation about remodelling primary care, and I really do hope that people engage in that conversation in a grown-up manner that recognises we all have challenges to face, but I’m optimistic that we can face them properly here in Wales, and we can be really proud of the service that we are providing for every single community.

Thank you to the Cabinet Secretary.