Vaughan Gething: In terms of reviewing and understanding the recruitment across mid Wales and, in fact, every other part of Wales, health boards themselves, within their integrated medium-term plans, are supposed to be able to plan for the workforce. We are taking forward measures to more properly understand the needs of the workforce and our training and education requirements. That’ll get taken forward...
Vaughan Gething: I’m happy to confirm that this Government has progressively increased the number of nurse training places within Wales. I announced in February this year another significant increase on the back of increases in the previous two years. If you went and spoke to the Royal College of Nursing, or to Unison, as the trade union representing the largest number of nurses in Wales, they would...
Vaughan Gething: There is a serious point in the question that the Member asks about our ability to change and reform public services by choice, and understanding the choice we’ll be making in delivering a different service. There are arguments that we want the service to be broken before we fix it. And I accept that there are significant cultural challenges within every public service, including the health...
Vaughan Gething: This goes back to the conundrum that we discussed in actually setting up and agreeing the terms of reference for the parliamentary review. Not just yourselves, but the spokesperson for Plaid Cymru also raised the point about, ‘Will the review mean that you will stop doing things you need to do now and kick things into the long grass?’ You have to look at the balance, in saying, ‘Do we...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. In the general sense, about the backstop and the ability to think about whether we’re delivering change and making sure it’s going in broadly the right direction, that’s why there’s an NHS collaborative, bringing chief execs together to discuss and review evidence for changes that are proposed. That’s why we have integrated medium-term plans to...
Vaughan Gething: I think it is likely to have been a one-off, but part of the point about the chief executive writing to all health boards is to ensure that it has been a one-off. If there are other issues, then we want those to be uncovered and dealt with, because the Wales Audit Office investigation revealed a picture that is simply not acceptable and not in line with the established processes and...
Vaughan Gething: I’m always open to considering whether our accountability framework is in place as it should be, but this should work by the proper challenge of the board itself—those independent members, the non-exec members. And that’s part of the challenge here in understanding what information was provided, how information was not provided to the board, and I think the honest truth is that the...
Vaughan Gething: Well, the White Paper is a genuine consultation. So, it really is only for people to express their views and, if they don’t support the proposals, to think about alternatives to improve the quality and governance and direction of the national health service. So, this is not the Government saying, ‘We’re asking you, but we’ve already made our minds up’. It is a genuine consultation....
Vaughan Gething: We certainly want every patient, where a clinical nurse specialist is appropriate to provide care, to have one. The challenge about whether the clinical nurse specialist is the key worker, I think, is different, because, for some people, it need not be the clinical nurse specialist who acts as the key worker, although, in practice, in the great majority of cases, it is the clinical nurse...
Vaughan Gething: I don’t think the way in which you’ve characterised the way that general practitioners approach their job is particularly fair. I do think there is a serious case, though, about improving the number and the quality of referrals. This is a really big challenge for the health service, because the overwhelming majority of people referred in with suspected cancer are actually given the all...
Vaughan Gething: We’ve set out clearly our expectations for improvement in the cancer delivery plan. There’s no dispute within the wide range of healthcare professionals in tertiary, secondary and primary care services of the need for improvement, or in the real value of having written care plans. It is indeed because people see the whole person, so not just the particular direct impact of cancer in...
Vaughan Gething: The latest published information for 2015-16 shows 525 hospital admissions across Wales for patients bitten or struck by a dog.
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I do agree, and I want to pay tribute to both Julie Morgan and her constituent Councillor Dilwar Ali, for the approach they’ve taken, not just for the individual that’s affected and his family, but actually in seeing a wider issue to campaign on and improve, both for members of the wider public as well as, in particular, postal staff who are largely members of the CWU. This is not,...
Vaughan Gething: Well, it’s a good example of the fact that within each of our health boards there are examples of real excellence, and the drive is to have more care delivered closer to home, which means people don’t need to stay unnecessarily within a hospital setting. Again, the point is that significant areas of activity that would previously have been undertaken by doctors are now undertaken by...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. The Welsh Government’s intentions were set out in November last year in the updated ‘Cancer Delivery Plan for Wales’. Through the national implementation group, there will be a focus on early diagnosis and health boards will continue to prioritise cancer waiting times.
Vaughan Gething: Well, in answer to the question from the UKIP spokesperson, I again indicated that, from 2013, 66 per cent of cancer patients had a key worker, and, okay, that’s risen to 86 per cent in the most recent survey. So, significant progress and yet more to do, as I previously indicated. Currently, the key worker information’s held within the cancer information system, otherwise known as Canisc....
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for raising the issue. Mesothelioma is something that I’m particularly interested in. Without wishing to go over my previous role, somebody else in the Chamber and I were lawyers before coming to this place and we actually dealt with and worked on a number of mesothelioma cases. Meeting members of the family and having to witness appeals was particularly striking at...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. Research and innovation are key criteria for university health board designations in Wales and form part of the NHS Wales planning framework. As a Government, we have committed over £29 million in this financial year to continue our investment in high-quality research and technology-focused innovation within the NHS.
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. I enjoyed our visits—well, my visits—to your constituency to meet staff within the Aneurin Bevan university health board. I was struck by the range of activity that was being undertaken. That’s part of the £21 million that we fund through Health and Care Research Wales. The additional £8 million, when I refer to the £29 million, comes from the...
Vaughan Gething: I think it should make a real and significant difference in remodelling healthcare right across the Gwent area and beyond. It’s due to open, as you know, in spring 2021, when the Grange university hospital should be open for business. It’s important, in terms of the question that Jayne Bryant asked and the point that you make, to understand that the way in which we deliver services...
