Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. Obviously, I’ll be providing more detail in response to the urgent question after this that the Presiding Officer has accepted. The particular issue that you raised is incredibly disappointing, not simply from the point of view of someone who has received care that was not adequate, but also because, actually, Betsi Cadwaladr is a high-performing health board...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the follow-up questions. In terms of the radical steps that are taken, putting a health board into special measures was a radical step. It’s the only health board since the history of devolution to be put into special measures, and it’s not just about changes to only senior managers; there is a need to change the culture within the organisation. That’s why we expect the...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for his final series of questions. I think it’s really important that we separate out the right model for the right form of specialist care, wherever that is across the country, when we focus on north Wales, and in particular on Bangor, so that we don’t just have an argument about one site and one geographic centre. The danger there is that we play the three centres...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr provides a wide range of services, including 24-hour emergency services, emergency admission and assessment, short stay observation facilities, minor injuries service and a co-located out-of-hours service. In fact, between the areas of day care, of emergency admissions and of maternity and elective in-patients, it sees, on average, more than...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the local Member for inviting me to join a local campaign that I know he is taking very seriously. However, I’m sure you will understand that it’s for the health board to take the decision on whether they do have a specialist centre for breast care and on where that is as well. They need to engage the local public, and particular the community health council. It is possible, where...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. In trying to discern what’s different about the points made by the Member for Caerphilly—I’ve said what I said about not being able to comment on an individual decision, but the evidence about the current service drives the need to think about how the service is delivered in the future. And that’s the point—I’m not thinking you can deliver the...
Vaughan Gething: Well, some of the challenges about the nurse-led service are about understanding what is and isn’t there, and, actually, some of that relates to a lack of understanding about the high-quality care that advanced nurse practitioners do provide, and the high numbers of people who go to Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr and are seen very quickly and very professionally. You don’t hear an awful lot of...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I expect resources between and within primary and secondary care to be used to address the health and well-being needs of the populations that each health board area serves. I expect resource use to both lead and follow the changing pattern of services as more care is delivered closer to home.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the point. I think part of the challenge in understanding what’s happening in primary care is understanding what we mean by primary care spend, as well. I’ve seen a range of figures. There’s obviously campaigning, lobbying and, quite rightly, scrutiny about the amount of money that we spend and the share of money that we spend. For example, we spend in primary care spend...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. It allows me to highlight work that is already ongoing. Of course, I’m sure you will appreciate, and the pharmacy you visited will appreciate, that we are taking a very different approach to the funding of community pharmacy here in Wales, compared with the £200 million cuts being delivered to pharmacy in England. It’s a real challenge for community pharmacy...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the point, and it’s one that is well understood. Part of the work we’re doing on the ministerial group that I’ve convened and I’m chairing is to look at both the points about new entrants into the profession as well as supporting the people currently in it. So, this isn’t a point about ignoring people who are currently working within primary care. So, the incentives...
Vaughan Gething: It’s part of the work that I expect to see undertaken because I think the ideal thing would be for people to be able to have that medication, wherever possible, delivered by or with their community pharmacy, whether it’s about collecting or about a home delivery service. The great majority of community pharmacies do provide that form of service. I think it would help in seeing people...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. I’m happy to say that the most recent perinatal mortality surveillance report, published in May of this year, showed that Wales’s neonatal outcomes were comparable to the UK as a whole, and better than some areas with similar levels of high deprivation. So, we will continue to invest in the workforce and in capital to develop neonatal services for the future.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for all the follow-up questions. Of course, when we have our trainee nurse numbers we expect to have an intake, and there are challenges for us to discover and deliver on to make sure that we actually retain those nurses within the Welsh system if at all possible. There’s also a problem with general nurse recruitment anyway. You’ll know that there is a general challenge across...
Vaughan Gething: I expect all health boards to provide safe and effective out-of-hours services to respond to urgent healthcare needs. This includes ensuring that those with the most urgent clinical needs are dealt with soonest, and that all patients are dealt with within a clinically appropriate time.
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I would be happy if you would provide me with details of the incident, particularly the time of week that it took place—whether it was the weekend or in the week. Blocked catheters are a relatively common issue for an out-of-hours service. It is also part of the challenge about having a district nursing service available as well, as part of an improvement we need to see, because it...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. The health board has fully accepted the identified failings and recommendations in this individual case. I’m pleased the chief executive of the health board will apologise personally to the patient concerned. I expect the health board to take swift action on the recommendations, and officials from the Welsh Government will be monitoring progress closely.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for that series of points in the follow-up question. As I mentioned earlier in response to your colleague Rhun ap Iorwerth, when he mentioned this particular case, there are challenges about the care provided and the model of care provided, but also, this case highlighted a very real challenge with the unacceptable way in which the complaint itself was dealt with. That’s...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for his series of questions and points. There is a something here about cancer—and I was pleased to hear him acknowledge the treatment that members of his family have received, because, as I said earlier in response to Rhun ap Iorwerth, actually, Betsi Cadwaladr has a good reputation for the speed and the quality of treatment in cancer services. But that doesn’t mean to...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I believe most of the first part of the question has been answered, in response both to Rhun ap Iorwerth and Llyr Gruffydd, and also Mark Isherwood. And I’m pleased to say and acknowledge that this isn’t down to a lack of effort, but there is something about a learning culture, where people genuinely challenge, and constructively challenge, the way in which...
