Following the conclusion of all three rounds of recruitment in 2017, the Wales Deanery has now confirmed the appointment of 144 GP training places, surpassing the 136 places available. This compares to 121 places that were filled in 2016 – an increase of 19%.
It follows the launch of an international and UK-wide campaign to promote Wales as an excellent place for doctors – including GPs – to train, work and live.
The campaign includes two financial incentives schemes: a targeted scheme offering a £20,000 incentive to GP trainees taking up posts in specified areas with a trend of low fill rates, and a universal scheme offering a one off payment for all GP trainees to cover the cost of one sitting of their final examinations.
Ceredigion, North East Wales, North West Wales and Pembrokeshire, areas that have traditionally found it difficult to recruit have benefited from the targeted incentive scheme, achieving 100% fill rates this year.
Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said:
“I am delighted we’ve filled all the GP training places for Wales this year, and in particular some of the traditionally hard to recruit rural areas. It shows our marketing campaign has been a great success and Wales really is a great place to train, work and live.
There are a number of benefits for doctors coming to Wales, including an Education Contract for junior doctors, the first in the UK. It guarantees ring-fenced time for learning within the working week to ensure trainee doctors will have access to a wide range of educational opportunities to support their career development.
The campaign was recently extended to encourage trainee psychiatrists to come to Wales, which is a particular recruitment challenge across the whole of the UK.
I was pleased to re-launch the medical campaign in October. I have also approved the continuation of the incentives we have put in place for GP trainees. I expect the campaign to go from strength to strength and attract even more doctors to Wales.”
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