Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. The Welsh Government’s priorities are to provide the people of Pembrokeshire with health services that deliver the best possible outcomes for patients. We will, of course, be guided by the best and most up-to-date clinical evidence and advice to deliver high-quality care that the people of Pembrokeshire deserve.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. Dermatology is a particular challenge across the UK, as you recognise. Recently, there was a retirement from this particular consultant post within the Hywel Dda area. The challenge is how they work with other parts of the service as well, in particular, the growing partnership with Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board, which we are encouraging to...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. I appreciate that he has a particular perspective on this, but services have not been lost; they’ve been moved, and they’ve been improved. You quote the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and we take seriously what they say. We recognise there is real pressure across the UK and in Wales as well. That in particular makes it even more...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I share your concern at the comments that have been made at the Conservative Party conference by Jeremy Hunt. Members across this Chamber will want to see opportunities for a career in medical training and medical practice for more of our young people within Wales and across the UK, but there’s a real difference between that and saying that foreign doctors are no...
Vaughan Gething: Well, it is a fact, not an opinion, that consultant numbers have risen significantly over the last decade. Our challenge always is: in what numbers do we still face a challenge and what can we ourselves do about that? Because, in answer to the first question, which I think was from Paul Davies, we recognise there are some specialties where there are real challenges right across the UK family....
Vaughan Gething: No, I don’t. I don’t accept the way in which you’ve presented the figures. We’re confident there are more GPs now working within NHS Wales, we’re confident there are more consultants working within NHS Wales as well. You highlight the shared services partnership, and actually it’s a real positive that shared services are now the host employer for doctors in training in general...
Vaughan Gething: Mental health spend is actually the largest individual block of spending that we have within the national health service. And you’ll have heard both myself and the previous Minister indicate the reviews that we’ve done on, for example, the ring-fence, to make sure that that’s real, to make sure more money is being spent. And our challenge isn’t to simply say, ‘Let’s look at the...
Vaughan Gething: We’ve had this review in the past, and I’m happy to look again at the best way to protect mental health spending to make sure that it is there as a real factor in the minds of people planning and delivering our service. But the budget lines collected within mental health are not the only indicator, as I did indicate in my answer. There’s more to it than just simply saying it’s only 12...
Vaughan Gething: There’s always more that we can do to objectively recognise what we do well and what we don’t do as well and need to improve on. But I think it’s rather unfair to suggest that the national health service is only interested in treating people’s physical conditions or the health commissioning separately. What we do need to do is see the whole person and treat the whole person and...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I’m actually pleased when social care gets mentioned in these questions. It’s very easy to simply default to simply talking about the health service and doctors in particular in this set of questions. I don’t share your suggestion that social care has had massive cuts in Wales. Actually, we’ve seen health and social care together. Massive cuts have taken...
Vaughan Gething: I’m delighted to hear you mention the regulation and inspection Bill, now the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016, that the Minister is taking forward, and, indeed, the work that she is taking forward on understanding the future needs of the workforce. There’s a range of actions in place and I’m sure you’ll be delighted to hear further updates from the Minister...
Vaughan Gething: I’m sure that Members across the Chamber will recognise the significant value that carers provide, not just simply in financial terms, but also in terms of the ability to be cared for by a loved one or by someone they know. Many of us in this room will, of course, have had experience of being carers for friends and/or family members. Members will also, I hope, know that the Minister is the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. As I made clear in my statement to the Assembly on 20 September, we will be launching a national and international recruitment campaign on 20 October to market Wales and NHS Wales as an attractive place for doctors to train, work and live.
Vaughan Gething: This isn’t a question of being in denial, and there’s a challenge for us about how we talk about health and social care in a grown-up manner in this Chamber, and how we understand what we need to do to improve outcomes for people receiving care and improve—not just increase the number—the way that the workforce is organised. I’m really pleased to recognise initiatives that doctors...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question and for highlighting the issue. I understand that the company is called Doctaly and it’s operating around the London area, but they’re looking to expand. I absolutely share your sentiment—I don’t think that this has any place in the health service here in Wales. It would not be something that we would fund or encourage here in Wales. We believe in a...
Vaughan Gething: I think that those are completely fair and reasonable points to make. We recognise that the older model may work for some people, but there are different doctors with different priorities—a change in the workforce and a change in what people want to do. For example, it isn’t just that there are more women who are doctors—actually, men who are doctors want to spend more time with their...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. Our ‘Informed Health and Care’ strategy for Wales is our long-term vision for implementing new ways of delivering care by exploiting digital technologies, including telemedicine, to improve patients’ health and well-being.
Vaughan Gething: I thank you for the question and the particular point that you raised. We recognise there’s great potential in telehealth for the future and we think it’s a good way of providing specialist services to people to make sure people get care closer to home. Often, you don’t need to travel, and that’s a big part of the advantage, and we’ve seen it in the mid Wales collaborative. On the...
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I’m very happy to recognise that, and I’m glad that someone has noted the launch of the 111 service. It’s been developed on the back of what worked and what didn’t work in England as well by a project group here in Wales. I’m really pleased to recognise the real buy-in from the ambulance service trust, from secondary care, but also from GPs and primary care health professionals...
Vaughan Gething: When I look at developments for telemedicine and telehealth, I don’t simply divide it up in terms of those particular budget lines. We look at what we can do and what infrastructure we need to make sure that people can access that service. For example, in eye care, you have a particular need for cameras, whereas if you’re talking about the access to talking therapies, then it’s a...
