Vaughan Gething: I recognise the concern. This is part of the difficult choice and challenge in making decisions. We, as every UK nation, are advised by the UK National Screening Committee, and that does recommend routine screening up to the age of 74. The Wales Screening Committee actually recently considered whether to offer bowel screening for those people who self-referred over the age of 74, but their...
Vaughan Gething: I recognise the issue that David Rees raises on both points, both about the fact that we don't currently offer the test for people who are in the age bracket between 50 and 59—. And, again, our ambition is clear: we want to be able to do that. But, actually, our challenge is that, when we're seeing a falling level of uptake in the screening for the current population we provide screening...
Vaughan Gething: Well, there are two points. One is about what we do to retain our current workforce into the future, and the second is our planning for the future, both in terms of increasing our capacity and actually being able to have training numbers that match that future capacity. And that is the work that Government is already undertaking. I reported on this issue, actually, in a meeting at the start...
Vaughan Gething: We don't regularly publish—we answer responses to publish operations that are cancelled. I don't have any plans to add to official statistics on this matter unless there is a compelling case to do so. I'm happy to listen to that case as it's made.
Vaughan Gething: I do recognise that this is an issue that causes significant inconvenience and worry for any patient or their family when an operation is cancelled, whether it's a minor or a more significant one. There's challenge about individual issues, and if he wants to contact me with the particular circumstances that he's mentioned then I'll happily take them up with the health board about the reasons...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the follow-up question. I do think it really is unfortunate that you recast my words in a way that have absolutely not been provided. I'm not blaming the patient for being sick or inconvenient to the health service. It is a fact, though, that over half of the operations that are cancelled are cancelled by the patient. We need to understand why that is, to understand how we...
Vaughan Gething: We have a range of measures in place already, for example the healthy schools network, the 10 steps to a healthy weight, and, indeed, the daily mile introduced by my ministerial colleague Rebecca Evans when she was the public health Minister. There is a range of things we're already doing to undertake both greater physical activity, greater awareness of health behaviour, including diet of...
Vaughan Gething: There are a range of measures here and, actually, when we think about the challenges that we face, this is part of the common challenges we face in a range of public health outcomes: smoking, alcohol intake, diet and exercise, and in particular diet and exercise where it refers to obesity but also alcohol as well. As to the role of schools, it isn't just about the children when they're in...
Vaughan Gething: I'll try and give three particular points there. On organised sport, whether it's elite sport, and the role it can have as regards role models, not limited in terms of a media profile, but actively going and engaging within their community, and its role linked to community sport—. In work that I did previously with Rebecca Evans when she was a public health Minister—work that I'm looking...
Vaughan Gething: We are working closely with health boards through our successful national and international marketing campaign ‘Train. Work. Live.’ Health boards are using the campaign to recruit and retain healthcare professionals with positive results.
Vaughan Gething: There are challenges about population growth where it exists, and it's not just within the Cardiff area—though that is the most significant part—but it's also within north-east Wales. We've seen some areas of population growth there also. So, there's a broader challenge about managing that. There's something about the number of staff we have, but also the way in which those staff are...
Vaughan Gething: Despite the noise of outrage from the Tory benches, what the Member says is factually and undeniably correct. Members on Conservative seats in this place need to recognise that they have been champions of austerity for three successive general elections. For three successive general elections, you have been champions of austerity. You cannot now avoid the unavoidable consequence of that...
Vaughan Gething: These are negotiations that are ongoing with our trade unions, as representatives of the workforce. In England, they imposed a variety of measures into the contract. I am proud of the fact that we listen to and engage with our trade unions as workforce representatives. I look forward to a future conversation about Agenda for Change terms and conditions. If there is to be, finally, more money...
Vaughan Gething: Health boards are expected to deliver care in line with guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on referral for suspected cancer and the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Our approach to helping health boards and supporting them is set out in the cancer delivery plan for Wales.
Vaughan Gething: The pilot you refer to in England is a London-only pilot, so it's not a national pilot that takes in the whole of England in any event. We have pilots that are being run here in Wales in a variety of health boards. As I say, we will continue to provide a service that is in line with NICE guidance. The NICE guidance is due to be updated in April 2019. If we have the Welsh urology...
Vaughan Gething: As I said in my first answer to Mark Isherwood, there are pilots running in Wales. If there is a new clinical consensus, underpinned by evidence, in Wales, we can make a system-wide shift. That is where we are. There are pilots in the three health boards that you mention. The evidence base for that is gathering and growing, and we will then be able to make a choice on the basis of the...
Vaughan Gething: The cancer delivery plan outlines our vision for cancer services in Wales. It brings stakeholders together to drive improvement in cancer services and outcomes. The plan was updated and re-published in November 2017 and will take us through to 2020.
Vaughan Gething: Yes, and I'm grateful to the Member for raising the issue. It highlights, in some ways, how an announcement made in England will often grab attention and headlines, whereas work we are already doing in advance of England often doesn't reach the same pick-up. In this area, we've actually been looking at what we're calling a vague symptom pathway, which is essentially a one-stop shop, and...
Vaughan Gething: The points on staff capacity we've discussed in answer to a previous question on work that is already under way, about the fact that our diagnostic capacity is showing an increase, an that there's an improvement in waiting times for people here in Wales. We've also discussed what we're doing to improve outcomes in answer to the question raised by your colleague David Melding. I'm looking to...
Vaughan Gething: I can't answer all of that question, because otherwise I'm in danger of putting myself into a position of not being able to make a decision at the end of the consultation. What I would say about healthcare in every part of Wales is that every community in Wales deserves excellent healthcare, and I agree with you about every community deserving excellent healthcare. As ever, when we talk...
