Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to thank committee members for their work in producing the report on perinatal mental health, and the Chair for the way in which she opened today's debate. I do welcome today's debate, which reflects how far we have come in recognising perinatal mental health issues. The days when mental health issues in pregnancy and postnatally were dismissed as...
Vaughan Gething: And, of course, the £1.5 million a year of additional investment we've made, putting it into building community services in every health board, has been instrumental in providing support as close to home as possible for more families right across Wales. In some areas, that's led to new community services that are still in their infancy, while others have been able to use the additional...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. Thank you, Presiding—. [Interruption.] Oh, I'll do this, and I'll not clack around. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to the Member for introducing the debate with such a constructive speech. To be fair, this is a consistent approach from Suzy Davies on both of these issues—disability rights and the broader issues around defibrillators. I am aware of the petition...
Vaughan Gething: So, there is a greater awareness needed of defibrillators, how to use them, where they're located, and supporting the increased availability of them within our communities, and having them available on the Welsh ambulance service's defibrillator mapping system. I do fully support making life-saving equipment, such as defibrillators, more accessible and having appropriate signage to highlight...
Vaughan Gething: Across Wales a range of work is being undertaken to strengthen and develop out-of-hours services. We want to ensure appropriate access and a co-ordinated service to meet the needs of patients. These developments are a priority for the unscheduled care work programme and individual health boards.
Vaughan Gething: Health boards and trusts in Wales are performing above target in a number of areas and improvements have been seen in a number of other areas. I have made clear my expectations for improvement, especially in areas where we recognise further progress is required.
Vaughan Gething: Officials will be working with the NHS Wales Informatics Service management board to consider the wider informatics system in Wales. To inform this we will draw on a variety of information, including good practice in other healthcare systems. The recently published Wales Audit Office report and parliamentary review will also inform this work.
Vaughan Gething: The parliamentary review recognised the 2014 Act as 'a strong foundation to build on'. Implementation of the Act is progressing well across Wales, and we will continue to work with stakeholders to identify and address any areas for further development, informed by the findings of the review.
Vaughan Gething: The provision of accessible toilet facilities is an important issue and certain groups such as older people and disabled people can be particularly affected by poor provision. The Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 places a duty on local authorities in Wales to publish a local toilets strategy for their areas.
Vaughan Gething: Cervical screening can save lives and we want to maximise uptake. Seventy-seven per cent of eligible women in Wales regularly attend for cervical screening. From October 2018 we will be introducing a more sensitive primary test allowing us to more effectively identify women requiring treatment, reducing the need for repeat smears.
Vaughan Gething: We are working to improve child health in Wales through a range of plans and actions. Our programme for government, 'Taking Wales Forward', includes implementation of our Healthy Child Wales programme, a universal health programme for all families with children up to the age of seven.
Vaughan Gething: The Welsh Government continues to support local recruitment activity through our successful national and international campaign by marketing Wales as an excellent place for doctors, including general practitioners, to train, work and live.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome the publication of the second annual report by Dr Frank Atherton, the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, covering the period 2016-17. I'd like to thank Dr Atherton for his assessment of our progress in improving and protecting the health of the nation, his insights into emerging threats to public health, and his considered thoughts on actions...
Vaughan Gething: The report outlines that overall life expectancy in Wales continues to rise, up to 78.4 for males and 82.3 years for women. Most adults report good general health, with over 72 per cent of over-16s reportedly in 'good' or 'very good' health. And our infant mortality rate, at 3.7 per 1,000, remains low in historical terms. As we have rehearsed many times on the floor of this Chamber, there are...
Vaughan Gething: I'll happily deal with that last point first. I welcome the fact that there's a recognition of the importance of the seasonal flu campaign, and part of the strength of that is that it is genuinely seen as cross-party. There are plenty of things that we argue about in this place between parties; this isn't one of them. We want to have more members of the public in at-risk groups taking up the...
Vaughan Gething: We have some challenges here, though, that we should honestly recognise. Part of that is that, actually, even though we think there should be some professional responsibility on people to do this and there is an interest for people in the social care sector from a business continuity point of view to ensure that their staff can come in to work as well as make sure that they don't impact on...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments and the questions. I note everyone's preference to have a debate not a statement, although, actually, to be fair, statements provide more questions from Ministers to answer and more scrutiny in that sense, but these are choices that are made. I broadly share your concern about the impact of austerity on health and health outcomes. I think both Dai Lloyd and Simon...
Vaughan Gething: I thank you for those brief comments and points. I'm interested in the work being done by Citizens Advice here in Cardiff and Vale to understand the scale of the problem with gambling in this particular part of Wales. On the event on 23 March, I won't give a commitment without having checked my diary—I've been told off about that before, about giving commitments and then not understanding...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments and questions. On the overall point—the liberalisation of gambling—that's something that we have all recognised: that, actually, the growth in online gambling, in particular, is causing real challenges for us. For all the exhortation encouraging people to be responsible gamblers and encouraging the industry to be more responsible, actually, it hasn't led to the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, and I want to start by recognising the consistent concern that Mick Antoniw has expressed in this particular area, as well as generally across parties. The evidence on the scale of the problem and what our most effective response is is really important. I recognise we have some evidence and a building picture, but to move beyond anecdote to understand not just the survey evidence,...
