Meeting of the Parliament 02 March 2016
Of course, that is why we are investing the additional £85 million over the next three years. We want to ensure that we help primary care to develop and overcome the recruitment and retention problems that Alex Rowley highlighted.
The unprecedented funding that I have just mentioned is, of course, matched by a record level of NHS staffing, with over 8.9 per cent more staff now than in 2006. We have record high numbers of qualified nurses and midwives. Over the same period, we have increased the number of medical and dental consultants by 41.8 per cent, and vacancy levels are down.