Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. We have already heard the First Minister outline the range of extraordinary measures that four Governments across the UK have taken over recent days—measures that have been necessary to respond to the seriousness of this situation, because this is a public health emergency. My overriding priority remains to reduce both the direct and indirect harm from...
Vaughan Gething: The weeks ahead will be challenging and the demands on our health and care system will continue to grow. That is why I took early action to make sure that our health and social care services are as prepared as they can be for what lies ahead. Our response to this crisis has been to build on our long-term plan for health and social care, to strengthen the structures in place, and to bring...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions. I'll try to deal as quickly as I can with the questions as asked. On bed numbers, the 350 beds being released in the Grange University Hospital, together with around 150 that we expect to have agreement on from the private sector, makes up 500 extra beds. They are really for step-down facilities; the private sector don't have intensive care capacity. But the point...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments and the good wishes. In terms of ventilators, the 600 number includes provision we have and 200-odd that are on their way. In terms of whether the amount that we think we'll be able to procure will be enough, well that rather depends on the course of the outbreak. And I think it's really important in the honesty that we want to provide with each other that we don't...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you very much for the constant questions. Again, I want to reiterate Joyce's point about our staff and, of course, Joyce Watson has Members in her own family who are providing a health and care service, and will understand the commitment they need to provide and the fact that our staff know that they put in themselves in harm's way. They know that in treating people who are ill with a...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments and questions. In terms of your opening about not just locums, but more generally about staff who may be in at-risk categories, it was one of the concerns of the British Medical Association about asking people to return to practice: they may be people in the most at-risk categories, either in age or underlying health condition categories. But they may be able to...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. I'll start on the last one, about responsible volunteering. We've seen a large outpouring of people who are prepared to help organising activity within their own community. I think that the organising role of local authorities is hugely important in this, and certainly through RCT's, but other councils', experience with flooding, about the effort that they themselves have...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I formally move the legislative consent motion before us today. I am recommending that the Senedd gives legislative consent to the coronavirus Bill before the UK Parliament. I ask Members to agree that the provisions in the coronavirus Bill, insofar as they fall within the Senedd's legislative competence, should be considered by the UK Parliament. As...
Vaughan Gething: The Bill has five main areas of action to support the response across the UK and devolved national Governments. Firstly, it will help to increase the available health and social care workforce. This will be achieved through, for example, the removal of barriers to allow recently retired NHS staff and social workers to return to work. Secondly, it will ease the burden on front-line staff. The...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to all Members who've contributed in the debate. I'll try to run through as wide a range of the points that were raised in my response, of course. A number of Members repeated points, or built on ones, that were made earlier on. I want to thank Mick, and in fact all Members who spoke, for giving an indication of their support for the motion...
Vaughan Gething: The one note of caution I'd give in regard to some other responses provided to other Members is that, first of all, it’s then for this institution to decide how it wants to use that report in terms of scrutiny or otherwise. And the second point is that, in terms of how the institution functions, not just in terms of reduced numbers, but we'll all need to have in our own minds that we may be...
Vaughan Gething: Well, if you're talking about further additions to workers' rights, then that may be difficult. However, we do potentially have—particularly if this Bill is passed and becomes an Act—further and clearer powers to close down additional undertakings, and that would give those members some of the protections. The Sports Direct example and the commentary circulating around the Wetherspoon...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Llywydd. We continue to see, as expected, an increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Wales. Sadly, we have also seen more deaths. My deepest sympathies go out to those families who have lost loved ones and my thoughts are with those who are still critically ill. These are truly extraordinary times. However, the response from across our public services has also been...
Vaughan Gething: Hywel Dda University Health Board has well-progressed plans on a range of sites, including Parc y Scarlets—as we saw on ITV Wales news last night—a range of leisure centres across Carmarthenshire, and Bluestone in Pembrokeshire. Swansea Bay University Health Board has, with its two local authorities, identified leisure centres and the Bay Studios in Llandarcy. These are all in addition to...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions. On the 7,000 extra beds, I'm delighted that the health service has been able to undertake this work in the most difficult of circumstances, and also the response from partners. I think it's entirely appropriate that Angela Burns has welcomed and recognised that too—the local authorities family, wider partners and, of course, the support that we've now been...
Vaughan Gething: Okay, just to pick up on that final point first, there's no legal bar to a local authority going off and procuring an alternative source of PPE. We're trying, though, to have a co-ordinated approach to the acquisition of PPE and then its transfer across Wales. In terms of manufacture and supply of not just PPE but other items that will be useful in the response, we've had a significant amount...
Vaughan Gething: I think, to be fair, Llywydd, that I've dealt with the point about ventilators, both in terms of supply and manufacture, in response to the questions that Adam Price asked, and also Angela Burns in terms of the collaboration between officials in my department, Ken Skates's department, and people making those and manufacturing them here in Wales. In terms of the point about volunteering, we've...
Vaughan Gething: [Inaudible.]—support. That may come up again in questions with Ken Skates, because his department, in terms of the business support for those people, is actually really important to make sure they're helped to manufacture. So, there's more than one potential opportunity to manufacture CPAP machines, which are a level down from invasive ventilation but can be helpful. The faculty of...
Vaughan Gething: Okay. Thank you for the questions. On cancer care, I did see what Tenovus had to say yesterday, and our expectation is that we're able as far as possible to maintain urgent care across the health service. But our challenge is—and this is why, in all of the choices that our clinicians are making and are being supported to make—there really aren't a range of easy choices, and this is a good...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions. If I deal with your point about manufacturing, because that is exactly the same point that I dealt with in an earlier question. Whether they're ventilators or whether they're PPE manufacturers, the opportunities are there to be supported in the delivery of that. We've also got the ability to validate the quality of supplies with the facility that we have here in...
