Sam Rowlands, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, has welcomed the success of a GP recruitment drive.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is currently advertising for GPs in Wrexham and Flintshire and has already attracted five clinical leads and 18 salaried and permanently contracted doctors.
Mr Rowlands, a harsh critic of the running of BCUHB said:
“Obviously I am pleased to see that a recruitment drive is encouraging more GPs to Wrexham and Flintshire and I just hope this is a trend which will be repeated across the whole of North Wales.
“We are constantly hearing about GP practices in North Wales closing for varying reasons and the health board having to take over the running of the surgeries which sometimes have to be staffed by agency or locum GPs.
“It is vitally important that health board managed practices have continuity for patients and provide more permanent GPs.”
The recruitment drive is part of ongoing efforts by BCUHB to achieve a more resilient and sustainable workforce for health board managed practices, as they work to end the use of agency GPs and reduce reliance on locums as much as possible.
The introduction of permanent salaried GPs will help provide important continuity of care for patients in the longer term, while making better use of public money – with agency GPs often costing the health board twice as much as their salaried counterparts on a daily basis.
