“Well-evidenced call for the establishment of a new medical education centre in Bangor” says AM

Part of my speech during the debate on the Health Committee’s report into medical recruitment in the Assembly yesterday:

“Here we have a well-evidenced call for the establishment of a new medical education centre in Bangor. Of course there’ll be barriers, but those barriers will never be overcome as long as this Government appears unwilling to push the boundaries of the possible. We have, in this report, a very worrying picture—let’s be honest—of where we are at with medical training and recruitment in Wales. But the committee doesn’t then conclude that those problems can’t be overcome. We put forward solutions—imperfect, no doubt—but see them as a challenge. When it comes to equipping our future NHS with enough doctors, when it comes to tackling the number of medical vacancies that we have all over Wales, and how to enthuse pupils, empower our young people to aspire to be doctors working in their communities right across Wales, and helping them to be able to study here if they wish to do so, patients in Wales need to know that the job is in hand. We need to see that from Welsh Government. We need to see it soon.”