HEIW Releases Workforce Trends Report for NHS Wales

The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine welcomes the release of the NHS Wales Workforce Trends Report from Health Education and Improvement Wales, released July 2024. We were pleased to see that Healthcare Scientists were one of the professional groups represented in this report: it was informative to see how workforce trends among this group compared with trends across NHS Wales as a whole. While Healthcare Scientists were represented in the report, there was no information presented specifically on Medical Physicists and Clinical Engineers. These professions represent a significant portion of the Healthcare Scientist workforce: they play a role in approximately 50% of cancer diagnoses, and are involved in a substantial number of life-saving medical treatments. Any specific information on workforce trends in Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering would be welcome. We also note that much of the analysis in this report is based on ESR codes, which have the potential to vary widely between individual centres. A review of ESR codes among Medical Physicists and Clinical Engineers in England suggests that an estimated 30% of codes may be inaccurate. ESR codes should be reviewed within individual Trusts; once this takes place, the results of the report should be re-examined.

The full NHS Wales Workforce Trends Report can be accessed here.