Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The Welsh Government commitment to our NHS workforce was set out clearly in our programme for government, where we pledged to recruit and train more doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Last summer, I published our long-term plan for health and care, 'A Healthier Wales'. It emphasises how fundamental our workforce are to delivering...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for his series of questions and comments, and I hope that, assuming Darren Millar is genuinely interested in where we are and where we could be, he'll be interested in what I hope will be a helpful correction on some of the points that he's made. I'll start by saying—you know, it's good to see you recognise three years of real progress in terms of GP recruitment and GP...
Vaughan Gething: I'll deal with the points about the contract at the end. On your practical points about flexible working and a potentially inflexible approach, it would help to have some specific examples, because, really, that should be taken through not just individual employment relations, but, actually, at a strategic level in the partnership forum, where Government, NHS employers and trade unions across...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments and the questions. I recognised some time ago that endometriosis was a common condition that is not commonly talked about or recognised. As you say, approximately one in 10 women, we understand, will be affected by it during their lifetime. So, it's not an uncommon condition, and there's a challenge about where we do need speciality and where there's a role for the...
Vaughan Gething: On out-of-hours, we've got an out-of-hours reform programme. It's coincided with the roll-out of 111 as well. As we've learnt through the roll-out of 111, we've learnt more about how to support the in-hours as well as the out-of-hours service as well, and so I think in the places where you see 111 staffing, there is a more robust out-of-hours service, and it leads back to your first point...
Vaughan Gething: I think, on that final point, you'll have heard the First Minister talk earlier about our expectations that we're able to service the healthcare needs of people and to improve the ability of the primary care team to do so. That requires us to take GPs with us and to help them acquire language skills and value those skills. It's also why we've been interested in investing in specific...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. Hospitalisation is increasingly seen as a last resort and more young people now receive their care within their local community. To help meet the needs of young people who require in-patient care, we’ve invested £42 million in dedicated child and adolescent mental health service provision in Wales, leading to a reduction in those sent out of area. The position...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the follow-up questions. I do recognise the importance and the seriousness of this matter. Because we're not able to have full capacity, as we would otherwise want to, it's a combination of different factors in the north Wales unit compared to south Wales, but we think there are single figures of children and young people who have been placed outside of Wales because of those...
Vaughan Gething: There are two points there that I think I should respond to. The first is the point about the numbers of beds that we have. We're at commissioned capacity in Tŷ Llidiard. We're below commissioned capacity—and, actually, we're commissioning 12 of those potential 18 beds—in north Wales. That's partly about the complexity and the space needed, but it is also, partly, about staff. And so...
Vaughan Gething: I think there were two questions there. In relation to the second one, about the model and the quality of placements outside of Wales, I think I dealt with that in response to questions asked by Lynne Neagle in her supplementary. And I'll certainly be addressing that to provide a written level of detail to the two committees, as I've indicated in the undertakings I've given in response to...
Vaughan Gething: I recognise completely the points that the Member makes. I, as a constituency Member, have had casework and met families who are in a very, very difficult position and haven't felt well supported by the system. So, we have not just put resource—financial resource and more staffing—into the broad CAMHS service, but, of course, this goes into our earlier prevention and intervention work, as...
Vaughan Gething: Again, I recognise this is a real and serious issue. We know that many children and young people who access the CAMHS service and are treated—that eating disorders are part of the reason why they're actually in the CAMHS service receiving a specialist service. We have money to repatriate more people, but we recognise that we haven't done as much as we would want to. That point I was making,...
Vaughan Gething: Formally.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Llywydd. I'm pleased to have an opportunity today to restate this Government's recognition of the importance of continuing to improve mental health services. I do want to say that I welcome the general tone of the debate today, with lots of thoughtful contributions, including those that I agree with and those where I don't agree with every single part. I think it is helpful to have...
Vaughan Gething: I think there are a number of additional questions there, Llywydd. I can say, though, that we do already make performance data available. That's published, and I'm more than happy to consider again if there are things we could do in the interim. But my aim is to have a regular publication of data about mental health services that is genuinely useful, and, to do that, it has to take in...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I have today published the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives report, following their review of maternity services at the former Cwm Taf university health board. This is accompanied by a further report, which provides accounts from the women and families who have used these services. Members will now have...
Vaughan Gething: The report makes a significant number of recommendations, grouped across 10 main areas in the terms of reference that I set. I fully accept the recommendations of the report and I am grateful to the reviewers for their work. The focus now must be on implementing their recommendations. In order to achieve this progress, I'm taking action across three main areas: maternity services in the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of questions that I'll now try to run through. I'll try and deal with those matters that are broader and then some of the specific points that you've made. The matter in terms of regulators: ordinarily, you would expect referrals to be made by the employer, and I actually think it'll come back to some of the work that the independent oversight panel will do to...
Vaughan Gething: Generally, within Wales we have found that our health boards have been Birthrate Plus compliant. The challenge about the future workforce that has been highlighted has been the need to do something to ensure that we recruit and train enough midwives for the future. It's part of my disappointment that the health board declared at a relatively late stage that it was not Birthrate Plus...
Vaughan Gething: The scale of the concern, as is set out in the report and in the timeline, was made properly aware when a new head of midwifery service actually reviewed the data within the service, and those concerns led to additional Welsh Government contact with the organisation and, ultimately, because I was not satisfied with the health board response, I decided to commission this independent review...
