£95m for healthcare professionals' education and training

A £95m package to support a range of education and training programmes for healthcare professionals in Wales has been announced.

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said it would support physiotherapists, nurses, radiographers and a range of health science training opportunities.

He said it would enable more than 3,000 new students to join those already studying healthcare in Wales.

The money includes £500,000 for community healthcare.

Peter Meredith-Smith, associate director of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said it had "argued for years" that "investment in community staffing infrastructure in Wales has not kept pace with changing models of care across the country, with a shift of care from hospitals to community settings".

He said: "Clearly it will take a few years for the full effects of this investment to fully bear fruit, with a time-lag between the new money flowing into the system and nurses completing their education and training.

"However, the impact of this announcement on the morale of front-line staff should not be under-estimated."

Keith Lloyd, dean of Swansea University Medical School, said: "I am very grateful to Welsh Government for funding the additional physician associate places so that we can train more people to deliver the NHS workforce for Wales."