Vaughan Gething: We continue to work with all the health boards and trusts in the South Wales Central area to improve standards. This includes strong governance, leadership and performance management systems, the monitoring of incidents and concerns, quality improvement initiatives like our 1000 Lives Improvement programme and, of course, the robust inspection of services.
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the follow-up question. On ambulances, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that we have a much improved service compared to where we were two years ago. But it’s part of a whole healthcare system: those that don’t need to call for an ambulance could be safely and properly treated within primary care—potentially going back to Choose Pharmacy; we still...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for her question. It is the responsibility of the prescribing healthcare professional to ensure an individual understands what it being prescribed and how it should be taken. Community pharmacists have an important role in ensuring the patient understands the medication regime at the point of dispensing.
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I’m happy to do so. It’s a very visible figure to think about—enough to fill three double-decker buses. We recognise that there are real challenges here and real areas for further improvement. The points you make are about old medicines and people returning those so that they can be safely disposed of, and, in particular, points about polypharmacy and understanding how different...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. The Welsh Government is supporting Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board and Hywel Dda Local Health Board, together with Swansea University and Trinity university in the development of a strategic business case, which we expect to be completed in the spring of next year.
Vaughan Gething: There’s real learning to take from renal services within south-west and mid and west Wales. Investments are being made across the patch in terms of the dialysis provision, but, in particular, I think it’s a useful opportunity to highlight that there’s genuine UK-wide leading practice taking place within the renal unit in Morriston, in particular dialysis at home and overnight dialysis...
Vaughan Gething: I am consulting those affected, including people with haemophilia, in relation to the payments being offered. I updated the cross-party group on haemophilia and contaminated blood at its recent meeting and will issue a written statement in the new year once the outcome of this consultation is known.
Vaughan Gething: The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 sets out our commitment to ensuring the provision of services, care and support for all people, including disabled people. We are also working with our learning disability advisory group to develop a learning disability strategic action plan.
Vaughan Gething: This Government has protected investment in the health service and the commitments in ‘Taking Wales Forward’ will build on the strong platform we put in place over the last Assembly term. Our integrated health system positions health boards as responsible to provide high-quality services when people need them.
Vaughan Gething: I expect the local health board to ensure that all appropriate mental health services are provided for the people of Monmouthshire, in line with our 10-year mental health strategy ‘Together for Mental Health’.
Vaughan Gething: We are committed to improving children’s health in Wales through our Healthy Child Wales programme, which is included in ‘Taking Wales Forward’. The programme includes a range of preventative and early intervention measures to help parents, children and young people make healthy lifestyle choices in their formative years.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. In response to issues raised in the ombudsman’s ‘Out of hours’ thematic report, and some subsequent cases, arrangements for a peer review programme focusing on the management of acutely sick patients in acute hospitals will be finalised shortly. The work of the peer review will commence early in the new year.
Vaughan Gething: The Member’s question comes on the same day that the Care Quality Commission in England have indicated that no NHS trust in England is properly investigating deaths. There are challenges right across the NHS family here. What we are looking to do here in Wales is to have a proper approach to a peer review for those patients we should rightly be concerned about. One instance of this sort of...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for his question. As I indicated earlier, one instance of this sort of care and challenges in care that lead to undignified endings for individuals in Wales is one instance too many. We already have a range of actions in place. There’s been a mortality review of different case notes. We’re the first nation within the UK to undertake that approach. That is all about...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question, and I’d like to start by recognising the hard work of NHS and social care staff, who work under significant pressure at this particular time of year. That is, of course, a consistent feature of winter. I don’t accept that emergency care in Wales is in a state of crisis, and in fact we continue to work with Dr Roop and other leading clinicians, as...
Vaughan Gething: No. I think, when looking at this, we need to think sensibly about where we are in Wales, and the comparison with England, which has been made. It is, of course, for the Red Cross to stand up for their own commentary on the system in England—they haven’t made the same commentary on the system here in Wales, and there are differences. There are seven different hospital trusts in England...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for your series of points, comments and questions. When we talk about the system being under pressure, it does mean that the job of staff is made more difficult and more demanding, and that also has an impact on the patient experience, too, and we should all reflect and recognise that we’re talking about this general area. I don’t, for one minute, say that Members shouldn’t...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments that you raise. Again, I go back to saying that, of course, I’m concerned about the language used and the comments made by Dr Roop. But, as I say, objectively, the pressure in the system is not as great as it has been in the past. It is not as great as even last week. There’s a real issue here, and I have no issue with people saying that the health and care...
Vaughan Gething: There are two points to make here. The first is that I recognise that some people do wait too long, whether it’s in November or whether it’s in June, and that’s part of our challenge in improving the system. That doesn’t necessarily mean they have bad outcomes in terms of the clinical outcomes, but that isn’t always a great patient experience. And there’s something here about our...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Presiding Officer. In October, I presented to the Assembly the second delivery plan of our 10-year cross-Government strategy, ‘Together for Mental Health’. That was launched on World Mental Health Day, 10 October. A key action within the delivery plan is the development of a dementia strategic action plan. This responds to a key commitment within our programme for government,...
