Vaughan Gething: [Inaudible.]—cancer information, and I can give the Member the assurance that the decision I made to both introduce and trial the single cancer pathway is going to be the path forward when we restart new performance measures in the future, as we progressively restart more forms of NHS activity. I have already decided that we will not be reporting the old measures. I think it would be...
Vaughan Gething: There are two points to make there: the first is that, yes, we look at international surveillance, what happens in other countries as they reach their winter. It's part of the challenges around Melbourne, but it's also part, for example, of a concern we have about South America as they're approaching their winter and, in particular, the challenges of overcrowded housing and people who are...
Vaughan Gething: Well, I can say we're already looking at this year's flu programme and, in particular, at procuring extra stocks of the flu vaccine. There is work going on across Wales on extending eligibility for the NHS flu programme. I want to have a much higher uptake of both staff who work with vulnerable people as well as those people who qualify for an NHS flu jab to actually take up that entitlement....
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. I have issued NHS Wales COVID-19 operating frameworks for quarter 1 of this financial year, and more recently quarter 2. These provide guidance on the actions to be taken across the health and social care system, and build towards returning to the delivery of a wider range of services.
Vaughan Gething: There are a number of different steps we're taking. You'll have heard the First Minister describe this earlier. It's not a simple or straightforward matter, because the normal waiting list initiatives, the way we'd have worked, we'd have been able to get through more in, if you like, standard NHS time, as well as running additional sessions. That's less likely to be possible in the same way....
Vaughan Gething: Well, I wouldn't want to speculate on the relative challenge between different parts of the country. What I do know is that every health board is actively looking at what it will need to do to make sure it's on top of not just the numbers on the waiting list, but the clinical prioritisation of those different people who are waiting for different procedures, and how we need to safely restart...
Vaughan Gething: The NHS Wales track and trace service has had a positive start, with well over 84 per cent of contacts being successfully made. The TTP service has been a crucial aspect of successfully, to date, managing the two outbreaks in north Wales, and I want to pay tribute to both partners and our front-line staff for the work that they are doing to help keep Wales safe.
Vaughan Gething: It's a matter of concern. It's been raised in previous questions, not just here, but outside as well, about the need to see a further improvement in the speed of test returns, because it does then mean we should have an even more effective contact tracing service and system, and the individual instances—it doesn't matter whether they're a relatively small minority in percentage terms—they...
Vaughan Gething: The recent focus of the Hywel Dda University Health Board, like the others across Wales, has been on their response to COVID-19. The health board is now planning for the continued provision of essential and key services alongside caring for patients affected by COVID-19.
Vaughan Gething: Well, as the Member will know, the health board in Cwm Taf Morgannwg undertook a consultation about options, and they were able to recruit more staff to safely deliver that service. The Member will also know, over a long period of time, the challenges that have been faced in delivering healthcare across Wales and the plans for the future delivery of healthcare, and he'll also recall the...
Vaughan Gething: The delivery of services at the Maesteg Community Hospital is a matter for the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board. However, I understand the health board remains committed to maintaining the current services provided at that community hospital, and is actively engaging with a range of community representatives to extend those services further.
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I'll be happy to take an interest and to make sure that the health board, in developing these services in the Member's constituency, actively engage with him as one of the most significant community stakeholders, because I understand the project board are due to restart some of their work that's been paused during the coronavirus pandemic to date, to continue looking at the future. I...
Vaughan Gething: Our COVID-19 operating framework focus remains on access to essential NHS services, with the introduction of routine services continuing to be a matter for local determination based on an assessment of safety, workforce, capacity, clinical support requirements and risks for patients.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. I have today announced we will continue the current weekly testing regime for a further four weeks. If COVID-19 prevalence rates remain low, as they currently are, I expect to reduce care home testing to fortnightly from 10 August. I will continue to review and adapt our testing policy based on the latest evidence and advice.
Vaughan Gething: There were quite a lot of points there, acting Deputy Presiding Officer, and I'll try to run through them as quickly as possible. I don't accept the accusation that the announcement today and the written statement amount to a serious affront to the Welsh Parliament. In fact, I only signed off the new testing strategy very late last night, and I'm very happy to answer Members' questions in a...
Vaughan Gething: Again, there were a number of points there, acting Deputy Presiding Officer. When it comes to the vulnerability of residents in care homes and the significant number of excess deaths, we still don't have any evidence that discharge arrangements from hospitals are a material factor or, if they are, then how far in the number of excess deaths and, of course, it's never been the case that I've...
Vaughan Gething: When it comes to engagement with the care home sector, there was engagement with officials before I made a decision on signing off the testing strategy. I know that there was a direct conversation with the chief exec of Care Forum Wales before the strategy had been completed. That hasn't come from any media interviews or essays from politicians on any side of the Senedd; it's come because...
Vaughan Gething: That is exactly the form of action that we're looking to undertake. A few weeks ago, we recognised that we needed to make further progress, and we weren't seeing the progress we wanted to, so we had to examine a range of different parts of the system. And this is set out in not just the written statement but in the strategy that's been published today. So, we look week to week—and it's a...
Vaughan Gething: I think it's worth reflecting on the—. I referred earlier, acting Deputy Presiding Officer, to the comments made by the Royal College of Pathologists; it's worth reminding Members of what they said. This from the president of the Royal College of Pathologists: 'Testing is not something that is just done and counted. It is a process with clinical purposes for individual patients, for those...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. Well, actually, the reference that you made to Aneurin Bevan is a national approach in terms of hospital discharge, and it's part of a risk-based approach. When we changed testing policy on discharges out of hospital, that was largely about providing confidence to the residential care sector. The evidence and advice, at that point in time, did not support, on a...
