Friday 13 Jan 2012 @ 07:05
Welsh Government
Welsh Government
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£82m to train non-medical healthcare professionals
Almost 2,000 non-medical healthcare students, including nurses, midwives, paramedics and pharmacists will be funded by the Welsh Government in 2012-13, Health Minister Lesley Griffiths has announced.
The number of training places to be funded by the Welsh Government is based on workforce plans developed by NHS organisations and has been discussed with healthcare unions and representatives, who were given the opportunity to amend the proposals and have publicly supported the minimum numbers as recommended.
Workforce plans take into account a number of factors including the age profile of staff, turnover, the number of people currently working and in training, and the course attrition rate which has reduced significantly in recent years.
Of the total amount of funding allocated (£82.205m), approximately half is allocated to student support (bursaries and other allowances) and the remainder to course fees.
Staff in post has consistently grown over the last decade by approximately 3.4% per annum, and turnover levels remain very low across NHS Wales.
Lesley Griffiths said:
“The number of training places for 2012-13 is based on what the NHS estimates it will need to maintain services from 2015 onwards. These training places need to be seen in the context of the significant increase in staff in the NHS in recent years.“Our recently-published vision for the NHS in Wales, Together for Health, sets out how the NHS will look in five years time. Change in the provision of services is crucial, and workforce plans must reflect the need to provide more care closer to home with specialist services provided in centres of excellence.“Whilst the number of training places has decreased slightly since last year, they are calculated carefully to provide the level of stability that meets the needs of the NHS. The training numbers show our commitment to investing in the next generation of the NHS workforce as part of our efforts to protect and maintain frontline services.”
