Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the series of questions and the broadly constructive manner in which he has engaged with the statement. I will turn first of all to your finishing point, about setting a target for the number of GPs. We have not set a target for the additional number of GPs, for the simple reason that what we are looking to do is maximise the number of GPs that we can train to meet fill...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you again for the series of questions, and again the constructive engagement, both before today and during the day as well. I’m happy to say that the areas that we are looking to deal with today were in our minds before the Welsh Conservatives laid their debate plan. It’s a funny coincidence, isn’t it? But there we are. In terms of the points you make about the previous campaign,...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the UKIP’s spokesperson for her series of comments and questions. I’ll just start at the beginning with the unfortunate but necessary. When you say that the—. The Government doesn’t accept that there is a crisis, and I think the language really matters. We accept there’s a very real challenge, and it’s particular in different parts of Wales, and there’s a challenge right...
Vaughan Gething: I thank Julie Morgan for the series of questions and the examples she gives from her own constituency of Cardiff North. I’ll start with the point you make about the position that Cardiff finds itself in, which is different to lots of other parts of Wales. It is an expanding city: that is a positive thing but that does bring different challenges. It’s why I’m careful, when other Members...
Vaughan Gething: It’s a fair point about how we deal with Welsh as part of the importance of communication to deliver effective health and care. We know that for a range of people who have dementia, they often default to their first language and so it becomes more difficult to understand and communicate in other languages that they may have learned in life. So, there is a real imperative about the quality...
Vaughan Gething: Well, it neatly reinforces the fact that we face workforce challenges in a variety of different areas within healthcare professions. And there’s been no attempt to hide from that. In fact, we want to positively be proactive and go out and say, ‘Who do we need within the primary care team?’ That’s why I talk about other professionals. It’s why I’m really pleased to hear that...
Vaughan Gething: At the Plenary session on 12 July, I set out my plans for establishing a new treatment fund and undertaking a sharply-focused, independent review of the individual patient funding request process, commonly known as IPFR. I am pleased to have this opportunity to provide Assembly Members and the people of Wales with an update on the progress that we have made over the summer. I’ll begin with...
Vaughan Gething: The review group have begun their work and will meet for the first time together on 6 October. I will publish the report and announce actions arising from the review group’s recommendations early in the new year. Taken together, the new treatment fund and the review of the IPFR process will lead to a real change in how patients in Wales gain access to innovative medicines, and I expect a...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions. I want to begin by welcoming the constructive conversation, both with Rhun and with other opposition health spokespeople, up to this point, on the terms of reference of the review. I hope that other opposition spokespeople found it useful to meet Mr Blakeman as the chair of the review group. I think we have an excellent appointment, not just of the chair, but of...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments and the questions. I’ll try and deal relatively briefly with them. On the new treatment fund, then, if you like, the predecessor to this will help to inform where we are on hepatitis C and a range of other conditions where we’ve provided significant resources to make sure they’re available on a consistent basis. It is for the initial year, as I said before and...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for those comments. Again, I am pleased that each of the spokespeople have felt able to come into the Chamber and talk about the way in which we’ve approached this issue and welcome the membership of the group. I look forward to them all being equally positive when they provide their recommendations. Although we may have different issues to deal with at times, we actually have to...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments. I’ll start with the last points that you were mentioning on clinical exceptionality and/or need. The reality is that we already have a system providing evidence on what should be provided. Need is very much a part of it—whether it’s something that is clinically effective—but you can’t get away from the reality of resource as well. The NHS has a budget to...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’d like to thank Members for taking part in this important debate today. I can confirm that the Government will support the motion. It is important to recognise that NHS bursary arrangements cover a wide range of professions and not solely nurses—that was a point highlighted by David Rees. The Conservative Government’s decision to remove...
Vaughan Gething: I’ll come back to that point directly, as I come to a close, because I think it’s really important to set out the principles that we have, and the fact that we will want to support nursing students. We are not taking the approach that has been taken in England. Obviously I’ll need to consider the final budget settlement in doing that as well, and that’s been a consistent conversation...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Last October, I shared with the previous Assembly my plans to extend the major health delivery plans until March 2020. The cancer, heart disease, diabetes, end-of-life care, critically ill and stroke delivery plans have been reviewed and are in the process of being refreshed. The respiratory and neurological conditions plans will be reviewed in 2017. The...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of points and questions. If I can go back to, I guess, some of the starting gambit—I think it’s rather unfortunate that, sometimes, the impression given, when you talk about broader improvements in healthcare, is that all of this is inevitable and that the role of the delivery plans and the implementation groups have had no impact at all. I don’t think that’s...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of questions. Perhaps I can start with the end, just to deal with that quickly. It is £1 million for each of the major condition plans, and how that money is used is decided by the implementation group. So, there’s a range of people from the health service who are involved. It’s often a medical director or chief executive of a local health board or trust who is...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of comments and questions. I certainly recognise that there’s more to do in the areas both of survivor rehabilitation and prevention—in each of these areas. That’s why we have this approach—bringing together people who have a direct interest in this from outside Government, within Government and the NHS too. The example you started with of stroke is a good...
Vaughan Gething: Perhaps if I start with the first point, I think perhaps there may have been some confusion about the content of the statement. This is about the action plans that we have—the delivery plans covering major health conditions, of which there are 10. And, in particular, I’ve been referring to the six that are being refreshed and are due to be re-launched within this year. That’s why...
Vaughan Gething: The dementia action plan is going to be written this year. So, it will be available this year, and work is actually being undertaken now to do so. I attended an event two weeks ago at the University of South Wales, bringing together a range of different people, both carers and individuals who have dementia, and third sector organisations, as part of how we’re actually trying to drive...
