North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has questioned the First Minister over plans for a Medical School in Bangor, emphasising the need to train additional doctors and ‘keep local medics local’.
During First Minister’s Questions, Mr Isherwood asked:
“It’s many years since I first discussed the need for a Bangor Medical School with its previous Vice-Chancellor, and I have continued to have those discussions since.
“It’s three years since the North Wales Local Medical Committee warned, at a meeting in the Assembly, that General Practice in North Wales was, in their words, facing crisis, unable to fill vacancies, with GPs considering retirement.
“And they highlighted the fact that the previous supply from Liverpool Medical School had largely been severed, where their generation of GPs had primarily come from.
“In considering that you have agreed to do the business case for a new Medical School in Bangor, how will you ensure that that includes dialogue with Liverpool, alongside Bangor, to ensure that we keep local medics local?”
The First Minister replied “What’s hugely important is that any medical school is sustainable, and that it works closely with others in order to ensure that sustainability is there in the future”.
Mark added: “For year after year after year, the Labour Welsh Government dismissed warnings that we faced a GP crisis in North Wales, given by professional bodies including BMA Wales and Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Wales, and by myself and Shadow Cabinet colleagues on behalf of the NHS staff and patients who raised their concerns with us”.