Vaughan Gething: So, a lot is about having the right staff in place. We recognise that there are still gaps in terms of where we want to be. It’s one of the few challenged areas, for example, in public services, as we have them now, where money is tighter, but there’s still a call for more staff in the NHS in different specialities. Our challenge will always be how we match up what we need and what we...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of questions. I’ll try and run through them briefly and quickly, bearing in mind the directive we had earlier on. On the point about building resilience and social prescribing, I don’t think there is any conflict between this delivery plan and the terms of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act. I think there may be a challenge about the way people are...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of comments and questions. I'll just stick to dealing with the questions. Your question about psychological therapies—I indicated in my statement and partially in answer to Rhun ap Iorwerth and his series of questions, of course, that the money we’re talking about is going to be largely invested in staff to provide the therapies, and that's the point about how we...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of questions. I’ll start with CAMHS. I recognise that we’ve had about a 21 per cent improvement in waiting times for people across Wales. However, the number’s still too high, and far too many people wait for too long. This still goes back to making sure that people who don’t need the specialist service have an alternative pathway for alternative support,...
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I completely agree. I think it’s important that the Assembly and the Commission are showing leadership in this area too, not only in signing up to the Time to Change Wales pledge, but in recognising that being able to go back to work, and being able to remain in work, is really important for maintaining people’s sense of self-worth and well-being. I think most of us here get some...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments. I met Chris Ruane some time ago around the work that he had done in the cross-party group in Westminster. There was a consensus there for a broader approach, and the politicians themselves have found the usefulness of a mindfulness approach. I’m pleased you recognise that it’s formally mentioned in the delivery plan as well. The challenge will always be: what...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. I’m very happy to recognise the series of references you made to your constituency, where real work is taking place. You’ll recognise that we’ve got an ambition for Wales to be a generally dementia-friendly nation, and that means more dementia-friendly communities and a broader approach that we need to take as a society. Some of that is about recognising that a number of the...
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I do. We’ve made significant progress on school counselling, in fact, and I’m pleased to see that there’s some recognition both of the importance of it and support for the difficult choices that local authorities and headteachers will have to make about their budget lines, as we face significant challenge over public expenditure generally. But, you make an important point about...
Vaughan Gething: Formally.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I’d like to thank Plaid Cymru for bringing forward the debate and Members who have contributed to a mature and sensible debate, which I think reflects the approach that this Chamber has taken through a range of terms on this issue. Because, as others have said, we all recognise that mental health issues will affect all of us at some time or another,...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. The Hywel Dda university health board is committed to maintaining the paediatric ambulatory care unit at Withybush hospital. Services are available from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, and local families are being assured that they can continue to access services as they do now and do not need to make changes in how they access care.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the follow-up points. I don’t wish to continue to have a row and a series of angry exchanges about the future of paediatric services in west Wales, but it’s hard not to when the Member refuses to acknowledge the factual evidence available and the very best clinical advice about the service model being provided. We have rehearsed time and time again the review by the Royal...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Joyce Watson. You make an important point about a service that isn’t entirely reliant on temporary or locum-based staff, and, indeed, going back to the conversations that we’ve had on several occasions within this Chamber, about the broader picture on recruitment in areas of challenge specialities, but also about maximising the opportunities to work in Wales. So, when we talk...
Vaughan Gething: Well, you make a fair point about the paediatric service being about more than very young children, and not just about the maternity end—the newborn end. And, in fact, when I visited with Joyce Watson recently, I saw a number of families and younger children who were there. In fact, the ambulatory care service makes sure that the overwhelming majority of people are turned around and don’t...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Presiding Officer. We believe, as other parties do, that the time is now right for a rounded and mature conversation about how we shape the future of health and social care services here in Wales. The parliamentary review of health and social care in Wales was agreed as part of our compact, ‘Moving Wales Forward’, with Plaid Cymru. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the questions and comments. Again, this is an item that comes from agreement between the two parties—that another party in this Chamber has joined constructively with us to have what I hope is a unified position to start from. Then we’ll all have challenges to face when the review delivers its recommendations. There is no avoiding the fact there are very real...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for her comments and questions. Perhaps I can try and deal with the size and the membership of the panel first. I think we're fortunate to have already secured a panel of genuinely independent-minded expertise and experience that covers a range of fields across social care, across the health service, people who have direct experience within Wales and outside Wales,...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for those comments and questions, and, again, I should have noted both from Rhun and Angela, and now Caroline, the recognition about the role of a businessperson to add an additional perspective and international experience. And, of course, I’m very pleased to hear the welcome that Members have given to Dr Hussey agreeing to chair this review panel. On the stakeholder reference...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the point—I note the picture you paint about English local authorities having widely varying responses, given the population they have, the financial resources they have. And, actually, I think that’s part of the challenge that we want to try and avoid: having a multifaceted system where, actually, you can’t understand the logic of that, and how that meets the needs of the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Yesterday, I announced the full business case for the specialist and critical care centre, otherwise known as the SCCC, at Llanfrechfa Grange and the release of capital funding of approximately £350 million. The hospital is expected to open in 2022. This is good news for over 600,000 people served by Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board and, indeed, other...
