Vaughan Gething: We continue to work with all the health boards and trusts in the South Wales Central area to improve standards. This includes strong governance, leadership and performance management systems, the monitoring of incidents and concerns, quality improvement initiatives like our 1000 Lives Improvement programme and, of course, the robust inspection of services.
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I’m happy to confirm that a range of active discussions have taken place with stakeholders in north Wales, including with local government, Bangor University, Glyndŵr University and Cardiff University, who all take part in the current north Wales clinical school. We need to receive a business case setting out the evidence for a potential medical school. I expect to receive a briefing...
Vaughan Gething: As the Member knows from our previous exchanges, I have agreed to consider the case for a medical school as part of the work considering the wider workforce requirements for health professional education and training in north Wales. Any decision needs to be supported by clear evidence that change would help deliver on our priorities to train and retain more staff for NHS Wales.
Vaughan Gething: I’m happy to provide further information on the decision not to commission in-patient provision in Cardiff. It really came from concerns about the ability to provide the right quality of care and the safety of care. This is a highly specialist area for a very small number of mothers, and our challenge was whether we could safely do that in Wales or not. What I’m not prepared to do is to...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. We aim to ensure pregnancy and childbirth is a safe and positive experience for every mother in Wales, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I recognise that this is moving on from the specific point about orthodontic services to general oral health care, but this is an issue I’ve discussed with the new chief dental officer in Wales and, indeed, made the point with the British Dental Association as well—that we recognise that oral health care is an important part of the whole person. It’s why we...
Vaughan Gething: I recognise there is a challenge, as the health board do as well, around the provision within the health board area, including in the county of Ceredigion. There has been a range of assessment clinics across the health board area including a number of clinics in Aberystwyth and I’ve answered a written question to you recently on this particular topic. So, I recognise that all is not as it...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for his question. The health board is working to improve the provision of orthodontic services that meet the clinically assessed dental health needs of their population. This includes developing an outreach service, which means that children needing orthodontic treatment are being assessed closer to home.
Vaughan Gething: I quite agree, that is a direction of travel for this Government and there is a palpable difference in attitude between this Government and the UK Government to the community pharmacy sector. And it’s recognised and reflected back regularly from community pharmacy itself. In England, there’ll be a 4 per cent cut within this year for community pharmacy, going up to 7 per cent the year...
Vaughan Gething: Well, we actually ran a pilot on this before deciding on the roll-out, and I announced the roll-out in March last year. That actually came with an investment of £0.75 million to enable the IT platforms to go up. There are practical things to do to make sure the GP record can be shared. We’ve got sign-off and buy-in from partners, in particular our GP partners, to make sure that the record...
Vaughan Gething: I agree. That’s why this Government is committed to working with the health boards to ensure that at least half of pharmacies in Wales do deliver the common ailments scheme. We’ll then have broader coverage. Cardiff and Vale is not currently delivering the scheme, but it will be, over the next financial year, rolled out within the area. And I recognise exactly the point you make. It’s...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. The initial pilot for the common ailment scheme, labelled Choose Pharmacy, which is also the name of the IT platform that helps to deliver it, included a number of pharmacies in Cwm Taf within South Wales Central. There are now 19 pharmacies in Cwm Taf who are already running the common ailment scheme, with a further 19 expected to come on-stream and have...
Vaughan Gething: Well, where individuals pay top-up fees, it’s because they’re assessed, and either they want to pay a contribution on top or they’re assessed as being able to make a contribution. This is something about the commissioning of care, and it’s about who commissions that care and what standards are provided. There is something for the public sector in the way that care is commissioned, and...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the second question. In terms of resources, we’ve just had a debate about the budget and we have to allocate budgets to each of our areas, recognising the reality of the restricted finance we have available to us. The challenge is not always about money, but I think the points that you finished on are really about the culture in the care that we provide and the way...
Vaughan Gething: I recognise the particular example that the Member highlights. It is a truly tragic case that I understand the family will be incredibly upset about. The challenge in learning lessons not just from this individual matter, but the broader societal challenge we face, is where is the division of responsibility between individuals and their families, between social care and the healthcare service...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the follow-up question and the example. As I regularly say, we take an evidence-based approach and we look at the evidence and the expert guidance that the JCVI provides. I think it’s important to understand whether or not the vaccine would be effective in avoiding the admissions and the course of treatment that you outlined in the individual case. It’s also important to...
Vaughan Gething: Yes, and if the Member wants to write to me with the information that she believes she has, I will be happy to look at that and take it seriously and consider what we can do next to improve the position in Wales.
Vaughan Gething: We expect all health boards and the wider NHS Wales system to follow consistently the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. That’s a stance this Government takes on each of these issues.
Vaughan Gething: Well, the point about the recruitment to the medical workforce are challenges, as you know, across the UK system. Here in Wales, we’re certainly not immune to those challenges, and they vary slightly, but often we see exactly the same challenges in every nation within the UK. So, that’s why our strategy on recruitment and retention is important and that’s why it’s allied to training...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. The case you highlight again reiterates how incredibly difficult these choices are—difficult for clinicians, difficult for the health service in meeting all the various and differing forms of need, in particular the highly specialist and individualised care that you point to, but most of all, incredibly difficult for the individual and their family. I...
