On his first official visit to Wales, newly elected RCP president Professor Andrew Goddard, accompanied by Dr Gareth Llewelyn, RCP vice president for Wales, visited the Prince Charles Hospital and Keir Hardie University Health Park in Merthyr Tydfil to meet local trainees, specialty doctors, consultant physicians and managers.
Hosted by Dr Joanne Morris and her team, Professor Goddard heard about the trainee experience at Prince Charles Hospital, learned about a multidisciplinary front door medicines check project, and toured new undergraduate student facilities in Merthyr Tydfil.
Discussing the visit, Professor Goddard said:
As always it was a great pleasure to come to Wales and the visit to Prince Charles Hospital was very impressive. The learning and support culture that Jo Morris and her colleagues have established is one of the best I have seen in the UK and the enthusiasm of the trainees was reinvigorating.
The learning and support culture ... is one of the best I have seen in the UK and the enthusiasm of the trainees was reinvigorating.
The joint update was a feast of interesting talks and learning opportunities, and it was also interesting to meet with colleagues from the Welsh government and HEIW. The challenges that Wales faces with public health, workforce and wellbeing are the same as in England but it is refreshing to see a senior NHS leadership team willing to engage on them. Wales medicine is brilliant!
Dr Gareth Llewelyn added:
In my experience, services are often disjointed and under resourced. Many hospitals are struggling to recruit and fill rota gaps … so I’m delighted to see that Cwm Taf health board is thinking outside the box.
By bringing together a variety of professions – from GPs to nurses to mental health to social services all on one site – Cwm Taf health board aims to ensure that the doctors of tomorrow train alongside a wide variety of professions – giving them the skills they need to deliver excellent patient care.