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All-Wales role

An aerial view of the Heath Campus

We are innovators in the provision of health care and deliver high quality clinical services. With our National Health Service partners, we provide leadership in the development and implementation of health policy locally, within Wales and the UK. This breadth of this health-related provision is one of the reasons why the is at the forefront of developments in interprofessional education.

The Heath Park campus shares a 53-acre site with the University Hospital of Wales - the third largest hospital in the UK and one of the largest in Europe — and the dental hospital enabling the successful integration of healthcare education and patient care with world-famous research.  The national scope of the role is also illustrated by the establishment of clinical schools in Swansea, Gwent and North Wales which involve partnerships not only with the National Health Service but with other higher education institutions. This relationship with the National Health Service in Wales is an important strength.

It is a strength which the University is further developing in partnership with the NHS in Wales as it increases its networks to influence health and social care policy, extends its links with health trusts and boards across Wales and builds research capacity in related areas with special reference to the needs of Wales.

Assembly asks Cardiff University to run GP appraisal in Wales

The School of Postgraduate Medical and Dental Studies has been asked to set up and manage an on-going system of appraisal for General Practitioners in Wales.

The activity arises out of a bid to the National Health Service's Management Board of the Welsh Assembly Government, by Dr Malcolm Lewis, Director of Postgraduate Education for General Practice.  The bid was based on an extensive pilot carried out in 2001-2*, and on demonstration of a firm link between appraisal and both continuing professional development and the General Medical Council’s intended current plans for revalidation of doctors.

The advent of appraisal is part of the quality assurance agenda, with a strong emphasis on a personal professional development.  The University is delighted that, in contrast with some other UK models, the Assembly has decided that organisation of appraisal in Wales will be through a higher educational body.

The section of Postgraduate Education for General Practice is recruiting the additional 90 staff (mostly part-time) that will deliver the process.  The contract carries an annual value of over £2 million.

* Appraisal of family doctors: an evaluation study,  Malcolm Lewis, Glyn Elwyn, Fiona Wood British Journal of General Practice, in print.

Biobank gives insight into health of the nation

Researchers from the University’s School of Medicine are to work with 50,000 volunteers to gain a valuable insight into the health of people in Wales, and how health treatment needs to be adjusted in response, as part of the prestigious UK Biobank Project.

The All Wales Biobank consortium is one of six centres throughout the UK in the prestigious UK Biobank project.  The Project brings between £1.5million and £3million to medical research in Wales over the next five years.  The consortium comprises medical researchers from the University’s School of Medicine led by Professor Stephen Palmer, Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health as well as the University of Wales Swansea, and University of Wales Bangor.

The all-Wales nature of the Biobank means researchers will be able to tap into the unique characteristics of the people of Wales and their wide range of socioeconomic circumstances, the rural / urban mix as well as its cultural, political and geographical distinctiveness.

It is hoped that the establishment of the Wales Biobank will ensure that the people of Wales will particularly benefit from the study due to the higher incidence of many diseases in Wales and the improved care that will be available as a result of the study.

The study will also provide a valuable insight into the health and well-being of the Welsh population.  This information will be valuable for planning health services.

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