Six Thousand Extra Healthcare Professionals for Wales
A Plaid Cymru Government would have a five-year plan to recruit and educate an additional 4,000 nurses, 1000 doctors, and 1000 allied healthcare professionals such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists.
Our workforce strategies will look to educate healthcare students in a way that provides the consultants and specialists we will need in twenty years. This approach to education will benefit service development and attract the brightest and best students.
We would hold roadshows throughout Wales serving the dual purpose of promoting healthier lifestyles and promoting care careers. This will include going into schools and engaging with pupils.
We would:
- Improve access to primary care by exploring incentives for GPs to practice in areas experiencing shortages. We will create more salaried GP posts and advanced nurse practitioners for areas that cannot attract the more traditional GP practice models.
- Improve the quality of care by ensuring health and social care staff have access to Continuing Professional Development.
- Establish an NHS Nursing Retention Strategy to halt the damaging and costly exodus of nursing staff.
- Improve the ability of people including vulnerable groups such as people with dementia and young children to access care in Welsh. We will achieve this by increasing the number of Welsh-speaking health and social professionals and provide additional support to those already in our workforce to enable them to use the Welsh language professionally.