Powerful body backs calls for medical school
A GWYNEDD shearer is to embark on the ultimate test of endurance with a 24-hour charity shearathon.
Arfon Pugh aims to shear almost 1,000 sheep to raise money in memory of Gwynfor Williams, of Gwrachynys, Talsarnau, a family friend who died from cancer in 2015, aged 65.
The 28 year old, of Gilar-wen, a council farm on the outskirts of Harlech, is currently shearing up in Scotland.
“I’ll be returning home for the event before heading back up to Scotland until August,” he said.
“I’m getting plenty of practice but I’ll need to be in top condition for the 24-hour shear.
“I’ve been off the beer since Christmas, which has been quite a shock to the system!” THE Royal College of Physicians has backed calls for a medical school in North Wales to tackle the acute shortage of doctors.
The ‘Tackling the Crisis’ report published last month was commissioned by Arfon Plaid Cymru AM Siân Gwenllian and Hywel Williams MP and argued the case for a third Welsh medical school to be located in Bangor.
It claimed the training and recruitment of medical staff is at crisis point in many parts of Wales, particularly in rural and north Wales, and that a rurallybased medical school is a vital part of an all-Wales approach to tackling the problem.
The RCP said, without long term measures to increase the NHS Wales workforce, the NHS will be unable to cope with the needs of an ageing population and a rise in clinical demand, especially in rural and remote areas.
RCP Wales vice president Dr Gareth Llewelyn, said: “As the professional body for physicians in Wales, we have consistently called for a more innovative and joined-up approach to the recruitment and retention of NHS staff. We believe that it is time for a clinically-led national medical workforce and training plan.
“There are major gaps in both trainee and consultant-grade rotas in every hospital in Wales and 92% of our consultants say they find themselves doing jobs that would normally be done by a junior doctor, because the rota gaps are so severe.
“There are simply not enough
A number of local businesses are supporting the event, including a garage and a shearing supplier.
Four local farms will be supplying sheep, with Arfon looking at an hourly shearing rate of 45 sheep if he is to hit his 24-hour target.
“Merthyr Farm is closing the campsite on Friday night so that the shearing event won’t disturb anyone,” said Arfon, who bred last year’s Welsh National sheepdog champion.
“But it needs to open again the following night, so I thought it best to hold the celebrations at a local pub.
“It’s been hard work organising everything but I’m determined to make it as successful as I can.”
Arfon hopes that supporters will turn out in force to cheer him on at the Welsh-domiciled students applying to medical school, and the numbers are declining every year. This is why we very much welcome the contribution that ‘Tackling the Crisis’ makes to this debate.”
The number of students from Wales applying to study medicine has fallen by 15% in five years – a steeper drop than in the rest of the UK - and north and west Wales have fewer GPs per 10,000 population than the rest of the country.
In 2015–16, 50% of consultant physician posts in north Wales were unfilled and, in February this year, it was revealed that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board had spent £21m on agency medical staff in 11 months.
Siân Gwenllian said: “I’m extremely grateful to the RCP in Wales for putting their weight behind the campaign for a third medical school in Wales.
“There is already a great deal of professional and political support to set up a medical school in north west Wales, building on the resources of Bangor University’s School of Medical Sciences and the resources of Betsi Cad- 24-hour event at Merthyr Farm campsite near Harlech.
It gets underway at 4pm on Friday, July 14, and will continue through the night.
A bar, live music, food and children’s activities are being laid on for the event’s duration.
Afterwards, on Saturday evening, everyone is being invited to join Arfon at the Ship Aground pub.
A DJ will be on site, along with a bouncy castle, and a raffle is being organised. All proceeds will go towards the Tenovus Cancer Care charity.
Follow the event on Facebook via the “cneifio900mewn24” page.
Contributions can be made via the Remembering Gwynfor Williams page at Justgiving.com. waladr University Health Board.
“With many doctors reaching retirement age and not enough young people being trained here, health care services are already facing huge challenges.
“A new medical school is a vital part of the long term solution if we are to meet the growing needs of communities across the country, especially here in north Wales and other rural areas.”
Newly re-elected MP for Arfon, Hywel Williams said: “We have been calling for a medical school in Bangor for a long time. It’s about time that the Welsh Government delivered on a promise made so many years ago when Betsi Cadwaladr was first set up.
“The fact that Wales has two medical schools, in Cardiff and Swansea, and none here in the north is yet another example of the inequality faced by many of our communities.
“Added to the closure and withdrawal of public services from rural villages and small towns, as well as massive economic disparity, the lack of investment in medical training in North Wales is causing further inequality in terms of health and wellbeing. “It also means that our young people aren’t given the equal option of training as medics within their own communities.”