ONE-in-20 of the GPs working in Gwent during 2016 were aged 65 or over, new figures reveal.

Of the 390 GPs who were registered as working in the area last year, 21 (5.39 per cent) were 65 or over.

That was second highest rate among Wales’ seven health board areas - only Cwm Taf (6.25 per cent) was higher - and the Gwent rate was above that for Wales as a whole (3.39 per cent).

A little more than a fifth (22.2 per cent) of Wales’ GPs last year were aged 55 and over, a rate that has remained steady during the last five years.

By contrast, just 1.5 per cent of GPs working in Wales last year was aged below 30.

In a bid to tackle an issue with recruitment, to make sure there are new doctors coming in to fill the roles of those looking at retiring, a range of incentives are being introduced this year.

New cash incentives will be offered to doctors who train and work as GPs in Wales.

Junior doctors will get £20,000, providing they stay for at least one year after completing their training.

And those who train as GPs will also get a one-off payment of £2,000 to cover the cost of their final exams.

There were 2,009 GP practitioners in Wales last year, 127 (seven per cent) more than in 2006.

In Gwent, there were 6.8 GP practitioners were 10,000 population, the second highest in Wales.

There are fewer practices in Wales than a decade ago, and the 2016 figure - 441 - was 13 fewer than in 2015.

There were 684 locum GPs in Wales as at September 30 last year, and Gwent had the fewest locums per 100 GPs (29.5) of Wales’ health board areas.

There has been a trend in Wales - in line with the UK as a whole - towards there being more women GPs, and this continued last year.

In 2016, 52.4 per cent of GPs were women, compared to only 36.1 per cent of the total in 2006.

An indication of this is seen in the numbers of GPs joining the profession in Wales between 2015 and 2016.

Of the 175 who joined in that year, 116 were women and 59 were men.

The figure show that the average age of the GPs joining was higher for men.

Between 2015 and 2016, 163 GPs left the profession in Wales, and the figures indicate that more men are leaving.

Of that 163, 95 were men and 68 were women.