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Strategic Workforce Plan for Primary Care

The Strategic Workforce Plan for Primary Care was developed by Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) and the Strategic Programme for Primary Care (SPPC), in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders.

A short summary read of the plan is available.


Launch of the plan

The plan was endorsed by the National Primary Care Board in December 2023 and shared with health boards to inform planning for 2024-25.

The plan was approved by the National Primary Care Board on 15 February 2023 and formally launched on 15 May 2024.


About the plan

The aim of the plan is to develop sustainable workforce models that support the ambition of A Healthier Wales and the Primary Care Model for Wales.

The plan identifies twenty-six key actions to be delivered over a 5-year period which are aligned with the themes of the Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy.

The actions are formed from the engagement, strategy mapping, workforce intelligence and national and international research.

The actions focus on the following areas:

  • Embedding multi-professional working in all sectors including urgent primary care.
  • Supporting a healthy, motivated and engaged workforce in primary care.
  • Expanding training and education in primary care to develop the current workforce as well as creating future workforce pipelines.
  • Improving workforce planning at all levels (practice, cluster, pan-Cluster, HB, national) including demand modelling which considers future scenarios.
  • Focussing on leadership development in terms of professional and system leadership. 
  • An equitable offer for primary care in terms of access to benefits, health and wellbeing, support and development opportunities which was a common theme through the engagement.
  • Increasing sustainable workforce solutions to decrease reliance on temporary staffing.
  • Exploiting new technologies and scientific advances to free up time to care.

Delivery of the plan

To ensure the plan is delivered effectively, all organisations will need to embrace the plan and take it forward locally. This will help develop a sustainable primary care service which meets the needs of the population and provide equitable access and high-quality care.  

The actions will be prioritised with immediate actions to be taken forward in 2024/25. The remaining actions will be delivered in a phased approach following this.


Resources

Below is a list of resources used in the planning and engagement phase of the Strategic Workforce Plan for Primary Care (SWPCC):

View a summary of the engagement events below: