Vaughan Gething: Primary care has an excellent future in Wales as the mainstay of a sustainable health system for future generations. We continue to invest further in primary care to increase the capacity and capability of the workforce, providing better access to more services within communities including services in the Cynon Valley.
Vaughan Gething: We are working closely with the NHS to deliver a major programme of improvements in CAMHS. The additional £8 million a year investment made in 2015 is already showing benefits with a 42 per cent reduction in young people waiting over 16 weeks from its peak in September 2015, compared to July 2016.
Vaughan Gething: I expect local health boards to maximise the use of minor injuries units, and all other available capacity in providing timely access to patients who do not have a serious injury but may require assessment and treatment. This should form part of an integrated unscheduled care system.
Vaughan Gething: I expect health boards to ensure that all patients, both new and follow-up, are seen in a timely manner based on clinical need.
Vaughan Gething: Work to tackle drug and alcohol addiction is undertaken through our substance misuse delivery plan 2016-18, which was published last month. The actions in the plan support our ambitions in ‘Taking Wales Forward’. We commit nearly £50 million per annum to this agenda, with a focus on reducing the harm substance misuse causes individuals, families and communities.
Vaughan Gething: Health boards are progressing with significant investment in neonatal services in both north and south Wales. This will further support the steady improvements in every health board’s achievement of the all-Wales neonatal standards since 2008.
Vaughan Gething: I expect health boards to plan and configure services that meet the needs of their people. This includes the provision of a sufficient number of hospital beds, deemed to be clinically necessary, to meet local expected demand, taking into account fluctuations in demand that occur throughout the year.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. The Welsh Government’s priorities are to provide the people of Pembrokeshire with health services that deliver the best possible outcomes for patients. We will, of course, be guided by the best and most up-to-date clinical evidence and advice to deliver high-quality care that the people of Pembrokeshire deserve.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. Dermatology is a particular challenge across the UK, as you recognise. Recently, there was a retirement from this particular consultant post within the Hywel Dda area. The challenge is how they work with other parts of the service as well, in particular, the growing partnership with Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board, which we are encouraging to...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. I appreciate that he has a particular perspective on this, but services have not been lost; they’ve been moved, and they’ve been improved. You quote the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and we take seriously what they say. We recognise there is real pressure across the UK and in Wales as well. That in particular makes it even more...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I share your concern at the comments that have been made at the Conservative Party conference by Jeremy Hunt. Members across this Chamber will want to see opportunities for a career in medical training and medical practice for more of our young people within Wales and across the UK, but there’s a real difference between that and saying that foreign doctors are no...
Vaughan Gething: Well, it is a fact, not an opinion, that consultant numbers have risen significantly over the last decade. Our challenge always is: in what numbers do we still face a challenge and what can we ourselves do about that? Because, in answer to the first question, which I think was from Paul Davies, we recognise there are some specialties where there are real challenges right across the UK family....
Vaughan Gething: No, I don’t. I don’t accept the way in which you’ve presented the figures. We’re confident there are more GPs now working within NHS Wales, we’re confident there are more consultants working within NHS Wales as well. You highlight the shared services partnership, and actually it’s a real positive that shared services are now the host employer for doctors in training in general...
Vaughan Gething: Mental health spend is actually the largest individual block of spending that we have within the national health service. And you’ll have heard both myself and the previous Minister indicate the reviews that we’ve done on, for example, the ring-fence, to make sure that that’s real, to make sure more money is being spent. And our challenge isn’t to simply say, ‘Let’s look at the...
Vaughan Gething: We’ve had this review in the past, and I’m happy to look again at the best way to protect mental health spending to make sure that it is there as a real factor in the minds of people planning and delivering our service. But the budget lines collected within mental health are not the only indicator, as I did indicate in my answer. There’s more to it than just simply saying it’s only 12...
Vaughan Gething: There’s always more that we can do to objectively recognise what we do well and what we don’t do as well and need to improve on. But I think it’s rather unfair to suggest that the national health service is only interested in treating people’s physical conditions or the health commissioning separately. What we do need to do is see the whole person and treat the whole person and...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I’m actually pleased when social care gets mentioned in these questions. It’s very easy to simply default to simply talking about the health service and doctors in particular in this set of questions. I don’t share your suggestion that social care has had massive cuts in Wales. Actually, we’ve seen health and social care together. Massive cuts have taken...
Vaughan Gething: I’m delighted to hear you mention the regulation and inspection Bill, now the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016, that the Minister is taking forward, and, indeed, the work that she is taking forward on understanding the future needs of the workforce. There’s a range of actions in place and I’m sure you’ll be delighted to hear further updates from the Minister...
Vaughan Gething: I’m sure that Members across the Chamber will recognise the significant value that carers provide, not just simply in financial terms, but also in terms of the ability to be cared for by a loved one or by someone they know. Many of us in this room will, of course, have had experience of being carers for friends and/or family members. Members will also, I hope, know that the Minister is the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. As I made clear in my statement to the Assembly on 20 September, we will be launching a national and international recruitment campaign on 20 October to market Wales and NHS Wales as an attractive place for doctors to train, work and live.
