Record level of investment sees 15% increase in training places for healthcare professionals in Wales to help support pandemic response

Buddsoddi mwy nag erioed yn golygu cynnydd o 15% mewn lleoedd hyfforddi i weithwyr gofal iechyd proffesiynol, fel rhan o’r ymateb i’r pandemig

Record levels of more than £260m will be invested in training healthcare professionals in Wales in an effort to help the NHS respond to the pandemic and challenges in the future.

The investment for 2022/23, which is a 15% increase from 2021/22, will see the highest ever number of training opportunities in Wales.

It will be the eighth consecutive year funding to support health professional education and training in Wales will increase.

The additional training places will increase the capacity of the workforce to help the NHS respond to the challenges facing it in the future.

The funding will go towards training places for anaesthetists and oncologists, as well as those working in intensive care, emergency medicine, acute medicine, palliative medicine and psychiatry.

It comes as 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.

The additional investment includes £18m for education and training programmes for healthcare professionals in Wales; £5m extra for medical training places, nearly £8m to support core GP training numbers and a net increase of nearly £3m for pharmacy training across Wales.

The investment will see the increase in health professional and medical training places for 2022/23, including;

111 Adult Nursing places;
73 Mental Health Nursing places;
22 clinical radiology trainees (20 south and 2 north);
maintaining the current target of 160 GP’s intake per annum, with an option to over-recruit to 200 when feasible.

Over the past five years nurse training places have also increased by 55.2% and midwives have increased by 96.8%.

Health Minister Eluned Morgan said: “This investment, which is the eighth consecutive year we have increased funding for training places, shows our commitment to supporting the workforce capacity of NHS Wales.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a great demand on our NHS and we are incredibly proud of how everyone has stepped up to the plate to care for the people of Wales.

“We need to keep training and strengthening our workforce, so it is prepared for all future challenges it may face and improve resilience as we bid to recover from the effects of the pandemic.”

Alex Howells, HEIW Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted that the education and training plan has been supported and look forward to working with our partners to implement the recommendations.

“Wales is a great place to train and learn, and we are very grateful to the many staff across the NHS and our education institutions in Wales for the valuable contribution they make to teaching and supporting our future workforce.”

Notes to editors

Caption: Health Minister Eluned Morgan during a visit to the National Imaging Academy in Pencoed, where 20 radiology trainees will be based thanks to the investment in the NHS Wales Education Commissioning and Training Plan for 2022/23 (from left: Steve Buckle (PACS and IT Manager), Health Minister Eluned Morgan, Victoria Whitchurch (Academy Manger) and Dr Phillip Wardle (Academy Director)

NHS Wales Education Commissioning and Training Plan for 2022/23

The following tables show the increase in health professional and medical training places for 2022/23.

Speciality	From	To	% Increase
Adult Nursing	1,540	1651	7.2%
Mental Health Nursing	410	483	17.8%
Learning Difficulties Nursing	77	87	12.9%
BSc. Paramedicine	75	86	14.6%


Anaesthetics:	Increase of 3 Higher Anaesthetics posts.
Intensive Care Medicine:	Increase of 4 Higher Training Programme posts.
Cancer Care
Clinical Oncology	Increase by 4 additional Higher Training posts implementing year 2 of the proposal to expand by 4 posts per year for 5 years.
Medical Oncology	Increase by 3 additional Higher Training posts implementing year 2 of the proposal to expand by 3 posts per year for 5 years.
Palliative Medicine	To increase Palliative Medicine training posts by 2 posts for August 2022 and a further 2 posts for August 2023.
Small Specialty Review
Community Sexual & Reproductive Health (CSRH)	To temporarily convert one of the Genito Urinary Medicine (GUM) posts to CSRH using existing funding to enable an additional appointment into CSRH for 2021 if possible but if not 2022. To recommend an increase of 2 CSRH posts for August 2022 To explore options for increasing exposure to both CSRH and GUM on the Foundation Programme and for GUM within Internal Medicine.
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS)	To increase the OMFS training programme by 2 posts in August 2022.
Clinical Genetics	To increase the Clinical Genetics Training programme by 2 posts in August 2022. Note - agreement and temporary funding was identified to enable one post to commence in August 2021.
Clinical Neurophysiology	To await the recommendations of the Neurophysiology workforce review. This is considered a fragile and vulnerable training specialty.
Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (CPT)	To retain the 2 posts in CPT and review for 2023. To explore moving one post to North Wales. To increase exposure to CPT during Internal Medicine training to increase recruitment in the specialty.
Diagnostic Specialties
Medical Microbiology/ Infectious Diseases	Increase of 3 Medical Microbiology/Infectious Diseases posts implementing year 3 of a plan to increase posts every year for 5 years.
Clinical Radiology	To support the recommended expansion as required to appoint 22 trainees for the 2022 intake with 20 in the South and 2 in north Wales. To create an INR post which will rotate as required to specialist centres in England to enable Welsh trainees to obtain this much needed training.
Histopathology	To increase Histopathology training in North Wales by 1 post for August 2022. To undertake an urgent review exploring solutions to the training capacity challenges within Histopathology and Paediatrics and Perinatal Pathology to make recommendations to Chief Executives in June 2022.
Mental Health
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry	North Wales – to increase by 2 posts for 2022. Note - agreement and temporary funding was identified to enable one of these posts to commence in August 2021 as part of a phased introduction. South Wales – to increase by 2 posts for 2022 and to review further for 2023 once the HEIW review on Mental Health workforce has reported its findings.
Old age psychiatry	To increase by 2 training posts for 2022, 2 for 2023 and a further 2 for 2024. With a review once the HEIW review on Mental Health workforce has reported its findings.
General Adult Psychiatry	To make no changes to the current level of posts on the General Adult Psychiatry programme and to review further for 2023 once the HEIW review on Mental Health workforce has reported its findings.
Forensic Psychiatry	To make no changes to the current level of posts on the Forensic Psychiatry programme and to review further for 2023 once the HEIW review on Mental Health workforce has reported its findings.
Learning Disabilities	To convert the shared LD/CAMHS post in North Wales to LD thereby increasing the programme by 1 post. To review further for 2023 once the HEIW review on Mental Health workforce has reported its findings.
Foundation, Core and Higher Programme Alignment
Foundation	To increase the number of Foundation Year 1 posts by 30 and Foundation Year 2 posts by 30 for August 2022 as detailed in the Foundation Expansion Business Case.
The Acute Care Common Stem (ACCS) Emergency Medicine	The ACCS Programme is expanded by a further 4 posts for 2022 and a further 2 posts in 2023. This will complete the development of the Bangor Programme and enable a new Programme in Cardiff to be created to maximise current training capacity.
The Acute Care Common Stem ACCS Anaesthetics	5 new posts are to be created in Emergency Medicine and Acute Medicine to enable the creation of a ACCS Anaesthetics programmes to support the alignment with Intensive Care Training
Anaesthetics	Increase of 5 Core Training Programme posts to ensure alignment between Core and Higher programmes and to meet training curriculum and less than full time training (LTFT) requirements going forward.
Internal Medicine	To increase Internal Medicine training by 12 posts for August 2022
Core Psychiatry	To increase Core Psychiatry Training by 8 posts for August 2022.
Additional workforce priority areas
Public Health Medicine	Recruitment into existing training posts is to be maximised and to support this funding for 2 posts is required for 2022 and for 3 posts in 2023. Work should be undertaken to maximise the current interest in the specialty from Junior Doctors. This includes the provision of Foundation Training Placements in Public Health Medicine within the Foundation expansion programme
Rheumatology	To increase Rheumatology training by 2 posts for August 2022 and a further 2 posts for August 2023.
Gastroenterology – Hepatology Specialist post	To create 1 Hepatology Sub-specialty post for August 2022 with 3 months of this time spent is a specialist centre outside of Wales.
Paediatrics	Increase of 4 ST3 posts to enable the expanded numbers of trainees created in 2020 and 2021 to progress through the training programme and to front-load the programme to maximise %WTE from ST4 onwards.
General Practice	Maintain the current target of 160 intake per annum, with an option to over-recruit to 200 when feasible