Difficulties in recruiting new doctors to ensure the future of Neyland and Johnston surgeries were highlighted by the announcement that Welsh GP figures have tumbled.

In a report published by the General Medical Council, it has been confirmed that half of doctors who graduate in Wales leave to practice somewhere else.

The 2022 workforce report by the General Medical Council found that most UK medical graduates remain in the nation where they graduated - with the exception of Wales.  Here, a staggering 46 per cent relocate to England due to greater availability of foundation posts.

This also raises considerable questions concerning Hywel Dda Health Board's plan to develop a new super-hospital in St Clears and the difficulties they may incur in recruiting medical staff.

Other concerning findings in today's report include:

• While England retained more than 92% of newly qualified GPs and specialists after four years, 77% of those who qualified in Wales stayed in Wales;

• Between 2017 and 2021, the only UK nation that had an overall increase in the number of doctors leaving the workforce was Wales (3%).  The figure fell between 5 per cent and 13 per cent in other parts of the United Kingdom; and

• Doctors had to look after more patients in Wales than in England and Scotland – for every doctor in Wales there were 271.4 patients compared to 242.9 in both England and Scotland.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said: “There cannot be a strong and safe NHS in Wales if doctors who graduate here do not want to continue their training and practice here.

“We must ask why doctors would rather be in England for training and why the Labour Government has failed to create the conditions that retain the wealth of talented medicine graduates that go to university here.

“But should we be surprised if students do not want to stay in NHS Wales when waits in A&E departments, treatment waiting lists, and ambulance delays are shorter elsewhere in the UK?

“Patients and staff are getting a raw deal from this failing Labour Government so we should expect people to seek a better deal elsewhere.

“Labour need to get a grip on the NHS and stop breaking all the wrong records."