We have more GPs than ever before, and we are at the stage where more and more GPs are looking to come to work in Wales. It’s hugely important that the structure of general practice in Wales is attractive. It is a reality, to my mind, that more and more GPs want to be salaried. They don’t want to buy into a practice. They don’t want to work within that model. Why? They’ve come through medical school with debt—to actually fork out more money is not an attractive proposition for many of them. The contractor model will be attractive for some, and that’ll be an important part of the NHS for years to come.

She is right about what happened in Maerdy. I know that there was an issue there on one day; because of an unforeseen circumstance, the cover wasn’t there. That is something that I can understand people in Maerdy being frustrated about. It’s part of the Ferndale practice, but, nevertheless, there is a branch surgery in Maerdy. What we are finding, of course, is that, for example, we’ve seen a 16 per cent increase in the number of GP training places filled so far compared with last year. The £43 million primary care fund has helped provide more than 250 additional primary care posts, including GP and nursing posts, pharmacists and physiotherapists. Importantly, work is being taken forward in Cwm Taf—of course, the Rhondda’s part of that—working across eight practices in one cluster. So, surgeries that are quite small and that do find it difficult to provide cover at the level that will be expected these days are able to work together in order to provide the comprehensive cover that people need.