£114 million announced to support health professional education and training in Wales
By News Wales, , , , , , ,

£114m will be invested in 2019/20 to support a range of education and training programmes for healthcare professionals in Wales, Health Secretary Vaughan Gething has announced.

This is £7m more than in 2018/19 and the fifth consecutive year funding to support health professional education and training has increased.  

Health and social care services rely on more than 300 professions and job roles which combine to support patient care. The funding will be used for education and training places to support a range of roles including:

  •     Medical doctors in Emergency medicine, trauma and orthopaedics and radiology;
  •     Nurses, midwives and health visitors;
  •     Paramedics, physiotherapists, radiographers, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists;
  •     Physician Associates;

Following the publication of A Healthier Wales, the Welsh Government’s long-term plan for health and social care in Wales, funding will be also be invested to ensure the workforce of the future is able to deal with the challenges set out in the plan.

Increased funding will be available to support the advanced practice / extended skills and health care support worker development, and funding will be directed to areas where the health system is able to derive maximum benefit.

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething (pictured) said: “The NHS has more people working in it than at any time in its history, all aimed at prevention and care for members of society across every community in Wales.

“I am proud of our record on investing in education and training to support and sustain the health workforce across Wales. This record level of funding will support the highest ever number of training opportunities in Wales for health professionals.

“The establishment of Health Education and Improvement Wales provides greater opportunities to consider both current and future workforce challenges and how education and training can support the changes required to address these challenges. Working with key partners HEIW will provide leadership in this area.”

Picture (c) BMA Wales.