Free housing for junior doctors

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/7718489.stm

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All junior doctors training in Wales have been told they can stay free in hospital accommodation until July 2010.

Health Minister Edwina Hart had previously agreed to extend the provision of free on-site housing until summer 2009.

The decision follows medical student protests and discussions between the British Medical Association (BMA) Cymru and university officials.

The BMA said the move would help Wales become a top destination for training.

The medical students had protested outside the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff after the requirement for pre-registration doctors to be resident at a hospital was removed from the Medical Act.

It was estimated this would have cost newly-qualified junior doctors about £4,800 a year, on top of average student debts of £20,000.

Welcoming the move Richard Lewis, Welsh secretary of the BMA, said the announcement demonstrated the assembly government's commitment to value the role of junior doctors.

"(It will) ensure Wales becomes the destination of choice for medical training," he said.

"It is a victory for the collaborative working between the profession and government as NHS Wales returns to the core principles on which the health service was founded.

"We have shortfalls in posts in Wales and this will go some way towards creating the culture which is necessary to attract the best medical talent for the future."