Vaughan Gething: The parliamentary review of health and social care in Wales highlighted the need to continually improve the experience and quality of care, to ensure we have a health and social care system that is always learning and where the voice of the citizen is central and clearly heard. I published the Welsh Government’s response, our long-term plan for health and social care, 'A Healthier Wales' in...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of questions and comments. There is broad support for the duty of quality and the duty of candour. Both the Green Paper and the White Paper consultations showed there was widespread support. You'll know about the broader issue of quality; there are a lot of commentators who think it's the right thing to do. I referred in my statement to the OECD's advice and, indeed,...
Vaughan Gething: I'll deal with your question about the level of harm before the duty of candour kicks in before I deal with the point about HIW and then the citizen voice body. Whilst we're setting a threshold, we're talking about more than minimal harm before the duty of candour is engaged. So we're actually looking at a relatively low level and then to understand how you would describe that range of...
Vaughan Gething: Again, thank you for the comments and questions. I won't be able to set out the answer you've asked for today on future legislation for HIW and the timescale, because I'm not in a position to announce the Government's future legislative programme, but the work is ongoing to make sure we have a firmer footing—some of that we don't need primary legislation for as well. So, I'm looking to make...
Vaughan Gething: On your last point, there will of course be a need for training across the services and the system to make sure that people are used to the new system we're looking to introduce, and to be properly ready for it to deliver the benefit we want for both staff and people. On your point about vice-chairs, I thought I heard you say that you wanted assurance that vice-chairs won't be political...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions and comments, and I think it's important—it's the point you were making, Joyce Watson, about making sure this is genuinely across health and social care. And it's interesting that we've worked together with the WLGA and voices across local government about the proposal, including the new citizen voice body, where, of course, there are elected representatives who...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, chair. I'd like to start by thanking Dai Lloyd, the Chair of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, for tabling this motion and providing the opportunity to set out the rationale and importance of putting in place these Welsh language duties for independent primary care contractors as well as, of course, for those primary care services provided directly by the health service....
Vaughan Gething: I recognise the comments made today. I have asked by officials to ensure that, in future, when we make regulations about the use of the Welsh language through health and social care, we alert and engage with the specific subject committee but also with the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee earlier in the process. I do recognise the points that have been made, not just about...
Vaughan Gething: There's an honest choice to be made about how to introduce these first-step duties, as they have been described. There were practical questions that needed to be explored further about how to set and regulate Welsh language obligations on the thousands of GPs, opticians, pharmacists and dentists who work and deliver care here in Wales—[Interruption.] I remember when the Member was in the...
Vaughan Gething: I'm trying to explain the approach that we've taken, and I am being genuine and honest in that. Members may not agree with the approach that we have taken, but this is the approach we've taken to introduce for the first time these duties across primary care. And there was consensus in the consultation that the most appropriate way of placing Welsh language duties on primary care providers was...
Vaughan Gething: Diolch, Llywydd. Members will recall that, in 2016, we created a parliamentary review of independent experts to examine health and social care in Wales, and that review, of course, had cross-party support. The report of the parliamentary review described the increasing demands and new challenges that face health and social care in Wales. These include greater care needs as more of us can...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of questions, some of which I think have overlapping themes. I would say I think there's a central point that you're making about whether the report will be delivered and whether the money will deliver against the objectives and how that will be tracked and monitored. Well, I've been clear that the suggested allocation of resource comes from the task and finish group...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of questions. In terms of the new resource, it is a central resource. It's not about reallocating budgets that already existed within health boards, but there is something about how health boards use the resources they already have available to them as well. This isn't simply saying that extra capacity will only be provided by additional money from the centre, but...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. On workforce, of course, in terms of stabilisation of the workforce now, we invested £5 million in this particular area over the last winter and that was deliberately to try to stabilise this particular part of the service whilst we're looking to the future. On your point about delayed transfers, it's quite interesting, actually, because, when I've gone through a range of...
Vaughan Gething: Community pharmacy has a significant role to play in delivering primary care in Wales today. Real progress has been made through new contractual arrangements that support clinical service delivery, collaboration and quality improvement. Choose Pharmacy is now available in 98 per cent of pharmacies across Wales and I have provided over £4.5 million this year to enhance training within the...
Vaughan Gething: There's a risk in every interaction with the healthcare profession where advice is given, and it's either written down or not written down in terms of how the person is able to or chooses to use that information and that advice. Part of the point about the roll-out of Choose Pharmacy is that it allows pharmacists as regulated healthcare professionals themselves to make entries onto the GP...
Vaughan Gething: Yes, again, if the Member writes to me with the details of the matter I can look at whether it's an individual issue or a system-wide issue for us to address. But, overall, we have an ambitious programme for community pharmacy already as part of the primary care team as it exists, and a bigger role to play in the future—not just the common ailments system, but it's also why we're taking a...
Vaughan Gething: I've had correspondence with a number of Members on this in different parts of the country, and about some of the challenges. It is about our skill mix and ability to deliver the right treatment as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. It is something that we are deliberately working through and I've had correspondence with Members, as I say, in different...
Vaughan Gething: I'd be happy to look at it, but it's not a matter of will. It is always about how we use the resources we have. And it's not just about money, it's about people. And we're going to have a debate later today about eye-care measures, and the determination we do have as a Government, together with the health service, to save the sight of more people, and have measures that promote that activity,...
Vaughan Gething: The Welsh NHS is not happy to see people lose their sight. I think that's a very unfortunate way to end the contribution. Because this is about resource and capacity, it is about people who can undertake the work, and it's about having a system that can deliver in a way that is properly equitable. I'm more than happy to engage in correspondence with the Member, to address the issues that she...
