WIREDGOV

Statistics released yesterday show a record number of full time equivalent qualified nurses and midwives, hospital consultants and ambulance staff employed in the NHS in Wales have been welcomed by Health Secretary Vaughan Gething.

Stats show:

• The number of  Full Time Equivalent (FTE) directly employed NHS staff in September 2016 was 76,288. This was up 3.2 per cent (2,330) from 2015 and at a record high.
• The number of FTE hospital consultants was 2,369 in 2016, up 2.9 per cent (66) from 2015 and at a record high.
• The number of FTE qualified nurses, midwives and health visitors was 22,479 in 2016, up 1.3 per cent (286) from 2015.
• The number of FTE ambulance staff was 2,045 in 2016, up 0.7 per cent (14) from 2015 and at a record high.
• The number of FTE scientific, therapeutic and technical staff was 12,429 in 2016, up 3.8 per cent (457) from 2015 and at a record high.

Statistics on the numbers of GPs in Wales were also published yesterday showing that there were 2,009 GP practitioners in Wales in 2016, an increase since 2015 and up 127 or 7% since 2006.

In 2016, the total GP workforce stood at 2,944, which includes GPs, GP registrars, GP retainers and GP locums. This compares to 2,887 in 2015.

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething yesterday said:

“The record numbers of staff we’re seeing in our NHS in Wales is clearly good news and demonstrates the strength of our commitment to the NHS. More qualified nurses; more hospital consultants; more ambulance staff and more GPs is evidence of a government that is investing in the future of its health service.

“We recently announced a significant package to support a range of education and training programmes for healthcare professionals in Wales. The good progress we’ve made around staffing, announced today, is a positive but we recognise there’s always more work to be done.

“We have achieved this increase in NHS staff across a wide range of professions in the teeth of continual UK Government cuts to the Welsh Government budget. Even in the most difficult financial position in the history of devolution we continue to invest in our NHS.”