 |
Prestatyn-based GP Dr Eammond Jessup is hoping by bringing
European trainees over on student visas they will stay and boost GP
numbers
A GP training school for European students could be opened in Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in a bid to end the recruitment “crisis” in North Wales.
One
of the region’s leading GPs Dr Eammond Jessup is trying to bring
medical students from Cyprus to North Wales to finish their training in
the hope they will stay in the area.
He hopes the school, which would be based at the Bodelwyddan hospital, would bring new blood into the profession w hich he has described as on the “brink of collapse” .
Unions
and representatives of GPs have called for the profession to be placed
on the official Government “shortage speciality list” allowing jobs to
be advertised outside of Europe.
Dr Jessup, whose own practice in Prestatyn will be taken over by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
this week, said the lack of a training college on its doorstep was one
of the reasons North Wales was being so badly hit by the “crisis”
compared to elsewhere in England and Wales.
The region relies on getting graduates from Cardiff, Manchester and Liverpool but not enough are coming through to replace the 44% of GPS due to retire in the next five years .
 |
| Ysbyty Glan Clwyd's Emergency Department |
Dr Jessup, chairman of North Wales Local Medical Committee, accused
the Deanery, of “over prioritising the South” and playing the blame
game, saying he was taking matters into his own hands.
He
has been working with the University of Nicosia in Cyprus to bring
medical students to Glan Clwyd to complete their final two years of
training by August 2017.
Dr Jessup said: “Part of the big problem
for North Wales is because of the size of the population it cannot
support a medical school in its own right.
“Once they are
qualified trying to get a work visa is very difficult, we are trying to
break that down by getting them in as students first.”
No comments:
Post a Comment