Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr iawn, John. I'm pleased that we were able to make that announcement today. This has been several months of very sensitive negotiations with those people who have been on the front line for all that time. So, we had to get the balance right here, because, obviously, we have a responsibility to support the GPs, who are in a very difficult situation, but also to make sure that...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Access to primary care services has changed dramatically across Wales over the past two years. Services have had to adapt so that patients can access primary care in a safe and effective manner. Many are using digital technology to help deliver these improvements.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much for that question. I'm more than aware of the pressure that GPs have been under for an extended amount of time now. I know that many of them are absolutely exhausted, that they've seen far more patients than they've ever seen before, that the way they've had to change the way they facilitate access for patients very quickly has been difficult for many, and I'm aware that the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I am aware that the situation is causing concern for people who live in the Albert Road area and in Saltmead and Pentyrch and that's why the health board is looking into this situation. Of course, in terms of Albert Road, the people who attend that surgery will be able to continue to go there until 18 March, after which they will have access to another practice in the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. All GP practices across Wales are working hard to respond to pressure and increased demand from patients. I have regular meetings with health board chairs to discuss how services are planned and delivered.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust is working with Swansea Bay University Health Board to implement a range of actions to manage 999 demand in the community, increase capacity, improve responsiveness to people with time-sensitive complaints and improve ambulance patient handover.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We expect the highest standards of care to be provided in all our hospitals. Like the rest of the health service in Wales, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board is working hard to provide quality care in the face of extreme demands. It is also responding positively to a recent Royal College of Physicians report.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Swansea Bay University Health board has delivered nearly 650,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in total and over 78,000 booster doses this autumn—24 per cent of those eligible. The board’s influenza vaccine uptake rates are similar to other health boards, with nearly 70 per cent of the over-65s being immunised to date.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We are working with partners via the HIV action plan task and finish group to remove barriers and improve access to testing, diagnosis and treatment. We are looking to provide more equitable access to pre-exposure prophylaxis—PrEP—across Wales and taking forward actions to tackle the stigma associated with HIV.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Rhun. I'd also like to put on record my thanks for the work done by Fast-Track Cities Cardiff, and I do think that the testing week is something that will become very important in the history of HIV annually in our country. Like you, I'd like to see that being focused—it does make sense to focus on those areas where we know there are more cases than in other places. ...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Russell. I think it is important that we are very clear about how many people are affected by HIV in Wales; in 2019, we had around 2,378 people who had accessed HIV care. About 77 per cent of those were men, and you're absolutely right to focus on the need to try and ensure that we have early diagnosis. To do that, people need to step forward and come forward, and so getting...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I am pleased to say that this intervention has been very successful to date and that there have been no new cases of HIV among those receiving PrEP. Between January and October 2021, 1,301 people accessed PrEP. However, during the pandemic, PrEP use has declined. There are many possible reasons for this, but the Welsh Government will be working with partners, including the Terrence Higgins...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Tomorrow marks World AIDS Day, which is both a time to reflect and to look to the future. HIV and AIDS continue to be a major global public health issue, having claimed an estimated 36.3 million lives globally. The World Health Organization estimates that globally in 2020, 680,000 people died from HIV-related causes and 1.5 million people acquired HIV. Although...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much. You're absolutely right; we're being cautious and we're not panicking. That's absolutely where the Welsh Government is at the moment. We are ramping up our vaccination approach and all care staff should have been offered the vaccine by now. So, obviously, sometimes, people are not in the right place at the right time and so we just need to keep going back at them and to make...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Mark, and I would like to remind your constituent that, actually, the travel advice from the Welsh Government is don't do it—don't travel abroad. This is not the time to travel abroad, particularly when we have this new variant that we know very little about. So, we obviously are not going to change our whole system to try and fast-track somebody who is going against Welsh...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Sioned. It's obviously difficult for me to talk about any individual case, but what I do recognise is that it has been more difficult this time to go to specific people in their own homes, because you have to wait for 15 minutes after you have the vaccination. So, that's not the case in this particular case, but I do think it's important—and it's good to see that she...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks, Peter. We're all desperate for a good Christmas this year, aren't we? We were deprived of it last year, and I know in particular lots of old people love and really look forward to that time with their families. I would urge people to understand that it's a COVID pass, so not only can you use the pass, which demonstrates that you've had the vaccination, but also you can use a lateral...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Rhianon, and, of course, you'll be aware that we have a very clear programme, and now we're going to undertake all of the recommendations that have come from the JCVI. We will be expanding the vaccination programme, as I explained in my statement, to all adults aged 18 to 39 years old, in terms of the booster, and those who are severely immunosuppressed will be getting a...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. Just to make it clear, some laboratories in the UK can't yet identify the new variant through PCR. So, we're just trying to ensure that we know which laboratories those are. Of course, there's a big one in Wales, and that would be in a situation where they would be able to identify it.FootnoteLink We're not sure if LFTs can do that yet, but work done in Germany so far...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Russell. Just to make it absolutely clear: I'm very aware of the precarious situation we are in in relation to the NHS as we enter winter, which is, traditionally, a very challenging time anyway, but, obviously, this year we have the added pressures that have built due to the pandemic. We're concerned about the possible flu outbreak; there are already very significant calls on...
