Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments and the questions. I think you're right to point out that, of course, there is a great deal of good care that takes place every single day in every single community across our national health service, and the report does highlight a range of staff who provided good care, in particular in the community midwifery service, but it is entirely right and appropriate that...
Vaughan Gething: I have absolutely no intention of coming back here in two or three years' time and having to report that no further progress has been made. That's why I've taken the steps that I've confirmed today and given the assurance of independence in reviewing the progress that the health board has or has not made. Because I will be honest about the level of progress that has or has not been made by...
Vaughan Gething: I'll start by reiterating that I'm not going to defend the failings identified in this report. That is absolutely not what I'm going to do. It would be wholly inappropriate for me to try to do so. The challenge is how those failings are addressed, and we have a wide number of recommendations to do so. As I've said repeatedly, having a proper independent process to do so is really important,...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments and the questions. Again, I welcome the point you make about staff. There will be many staff who will be concerned going into work today and looking to go into work for the rest of this week. There's a point about how we support staff, about how we still have high expectations of how staff behave, and how they are to be supported to work in a much more open...
Vaughan Gething: Of course I do take seriously what happened and why, and finding out what happened and why, which is why I've set out independent steps to do so. That includes your point about the time frame to look back as well, because that's the recommended period within the report to look back, but it's very clear to me, and it'll be clear to the independent panel, that if they believe that there should...
Vaughan Gething: I'm happy to confirm that if people move within the health board, then the health board will need to make sure that they adequately resource the service, if people are moving around to cover challenges in other parts of the area. But it's entirely possible that people will move from the current Bridgend area. For example, the medical director post: it's possible that could be someone from the...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. Thank you for the question. We want to see sustainable and accessible GP services across Wales, including, of course, in Blaenau Gwent. GP practices are using components of the newly established primary care model to improve the way that they provide services with, and for, patients.
Vaughan Gething: Well, I'd say that we recognise that access is one of the key priorities for the public when it comes to the national health service and local health services in particular. It's the largest issue of concern in the National Survey for Wales and it's grown as an issue. That's why we're determined to make progress on improving access. The investments that we're making in facilities are designed...
Vaughan Gething: Well, this is a subject that I regularly get asked about in this Chamber, about whether there is a Welsh Government agenda to get rid of the partnership model in general practice, and that is not our intention at all. The great majority of general practice is delivered through the partnership model, the independent contractor model, and the managed practices are there to try and help through...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. Population screening is a public health priority. We know that cancer screening programmes save lives. Public Health Wales is responsible for delivering the cancer screening programmes in Wales and they are overseeing significant improvements aimed at maximising uptake and, of course, preventing more cancers.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. You're correct that we started introducing the new, more sensitive and, importantly, easier to administer test from January this year. It will be fully implemented across the whole of Wales by June this year. Actually, when people receive their invite to undertake the test, that's part of the direct contact with people, and it's also part of our broader message...
Vaughan Gething: You're right, and it's of course a point of concern that there's been a slow decline, not just in Wales but across the UK, in people actually taking up the smear tests that are offered. That's partly about looking at if there's going to be a change in the test and there is some research being done on self-administered screening. There's a pilot taking place that's due to start in September...
Vaughan Gething: Well, of course, the Member's aware that I don't have at my fingertips the number of staff who have left the health service from managerial positions going back to 2016. It is worth reflecting, as I said yesterday when a similar point was made, that a number of managers and leaders in services within the health service are, of course, registered clinicians as well and have professional duties...
Vaughan Gething: I think there are three particular questions there, Llywydd, the first about—[Interruption.] The first about special measures in north Wales, and, of course, it's factually incorrect to say no progress has been made. For example, one of the main issues that saw Betsi Cadwaladr go into special measures were challenges in their maternity services, and they have come out of special measures,...
Vaughan Gething: I return to the range of points—I think there are five different points made at that time, Llywydd. In terms of the eight reports that the Member refers to, none of them refer to the depth of challenge that was revealed in the autumn of last year, which led to my commissioning of the joint royal colleges report. That was a decision I took because of the concern that had been properly...
Vaughan Gething: Well, Llywydd, the questioner shows a staggering lack of self-awareness in asking the question. The unavoidable reality is that the Welsh Government has suffered a 7 per cent real-term reduction in our budget—well over £1 billion—and that has consequences that are unavoidable and directly flow from the policy of austerity implemented by the Government that you support, a policy that you...
Vaughan Gething: Well, I'd like to thank the Member for her latest interesting take and bring her back to reality. The undeniable challenges on social care exist right across the United Kingdom, including here in Wales. Within the significant reductions made to our budget by the UK Conservative Government that she supports and has campaigned for, we have made honest choices about the share in resources...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question on carers—an important subject on which there is some cross-party agreement that we need to find a better deal on. The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 provides rights that do not exist in other parts of the United Kingdom. Our challenge is how we work with our partners and make sure those rights are realised. There is no lack of focus on carers...
Vaughan Gething: This is an area in which we've actually changed measures, and the difference between measures and what happened in the service actually matters. We were measuring a referral-to-treatment target that didn't actually take account of the clinical priority of patients. So, we had a blunt measure that didn't take account of how the service should act to actually deal with the potential clinical...
Vaughan Gething: Well, the new measures themselves are not simply an answer in themselves. They are actually about how we organise and run the whole system. It's about actually ensuring that we're able to transfer care into community-based services wherever possible, and actually Aneurin Bevan have been leading on a range of that work, to provide greater time and capacity within hospital-based services for...
