Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to thank the committee for their report and the debate today. We may not agree on every single issue at the end of it, but I think there is a shared ambition for our digital future within the world of health and care. Of course, 'A Healthier Wales' puts digital technology transformation and basic, essential use at the heart of transforming health...
Vaughan Gething: I'll come to outages later in my remarks. In Wales, we're developing an online directory of services that aggregates information from across health, care and voluntary sectors to make it easier for citizens to find information on services relevant to them. As outlined in my response to the Public Accounts Committee, a review of NHS digital architecture is under way, and that will guide plans...
Vaughan Gething: I have met twice with the Tawel Fan families' group in north Wales, once in my former role as deputy health Minister and more recently in October.
Vaughan Gething: Yes. This is a matter that was raised during the meeting with the families in October. There's been a range of correspondence around the purpose and point of the unit. I'm actually looking ahead now to what I'm expecting to be an outline case for revising the estate on that particular site, and it will involve changes to the current Tawel Fan site, as well, together with a strategy the health...
Vaughan Gething: Well, that's a particular point of view that's taken, and I don't agree with every factual assertion that the Member has made. The 100-day plan of the start of special measures was actually to reset the course with the health board. There was no suggestion that within 100 days all issues would be resolved; that was never claimed by anybody within the health board or outside it. To suggest...
Vaughan Gething: Car parking is free at all NHS hospitals in Wales. Health boards and NHS trusts are responsible for the local management operations and the arrangements for car parks on their sites.
Vaughan Gething: That's exactly what we expect. There is, of course, the challenge of making sure that free parking on hospital sites does not turn into people parking for free on hospital sites, but not actually making use of the healthcare services in that hospital. So, the challenge is how we make sure that people who are there receive the free parking that they should expect. I'm interested in what the...
Vaughan Gething: I'll deal with your first point about the time it's taken. I'm very proud that the Welsh Labour commitment has been delivered. We were not able to deliver it as quickly as we had wanted to because of the long-term contracts that existed—if you were listening to my first answer you would have heard me say that—and there was a practical point about the cost to the public purse in buying out...
Vaughan Gething: I won't rehearse the challenge about whether I'm directly running the health service in north Wales through special measures or not; we keep on coming back to this. But the reality is that the performance within emergency care in north Wales is not acceptable, and that is the direct message that the health board have had. In terms of the reasons for it, and factors within it, some of the...
Vaughan Gething: Well, that isn't quite an accurate reflection of what I said or what the First Minister said either. I certainly never said, 'We just don't know what's going on within the emergency care system.' We do know that there's a challenge about clinical leadership and engagement and buy-in. And, actually, if you look across north Wales you can't really distinguish the take that comes into Ysbyty...
Vaughan Gething: Again, I don't think that's a fair reflection on the fact of what I've set out. You need to understand what is specific to each particular site to address, but, actually, there is nothing that explains the significant difference in performance between the three sites within north Wales, and, actually, when you go beyond that, then, the differences in different parts of Wales too. That's why...
Vaughan Gething: Actually, if you look at what we've done over the last two years, we have made real inroads into agency and locum spend. I made a choice to introduce not just a cap on rates, but a range of other measures that the service had offered in terms of some policy choices. That's meant we've spent at least £30 million less on agency than in the last financial year, but we know that we need to do...
Vaughan Gething: Actually, we know that for a significant part not just of Wales, but across the United Kingdom, some centres are more easy to attract and recruit to than others in different parts of the country. You don't need to take my word for it; go and talk to people who work in those other parts of the health service about the relative ease or difficulty of doing so. Cardiff and Vale, and other parts...
Vaughan Gething: That's true for some patients, and others take a rather different view. If you look at what we're doing and, actually, if you look at the NHS England plan, for example, when they talk about the way that they want general practice to work together, it sounds and looks a lot like clusters here in Wales. They may not give us credit for it, but they're actually copying a number of the things that...
Vaughan Gething: The Welsh Government continues to invest in the health service in north Wales, as demonstrated by the £1.4 billion allocation in 2018-19. We've provided specific additional support this year, totalling nearly £20 million to support performance, winter pressures, capacity and capability within the organisation.
Vaughan Gething: Well, obviously, I can't comment on an e-mail you've had today from a whistleblower about his perspective, but we want to take seriously any and everybody who provide concerns about the use of money. But, actually, the project you mentioned there does not go into the first part of your question and the disagreement between the Countess of Chester trust and the health and care system in north...
Vaughan Gething: It is disgraceful, you're right.
Vaughan Gething: We have nursing courses provided in Bangor that we pay for. They're part of the numbers and the training numbers that I've invested in, which I referred to in my answer to Neil Hamilton. I expect both the numbers to be delivered and the quality of training and care to be delivered. If there are real and serious concerns, as you've mentioned, I'd be very pleased to hear from you direct about...
Vaughan Gething: 'A Healthier Wales' sets out our vision for healthcare services and the primary care model for Wales is instrumental to delivering our aims for general practice. We are working with NHS Wales and representative bodies to continue to improve the delivery of services to the people of South Wales Central.
Vaughan Gething: Well, I'm not sure the person you refer to has given you permission to highlight his own personal experience in the way you do, but there is—[Interruption.]
