Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments. Going back to the point about transport again, it’s a significant issue to get right for both private hire and private transport, as well as public service transport, to the site, thinking about the needs of patients and their abilities and also access for emergency services. I expect that local Members who were engaged directly in their conversations with the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments. I can confirm that it isn’t my birthday—not yet, and I do have to wait some significant period of time for that to happen again. In terms of where we are, Members make a series of points about the time and where we are now, but, on the opportunity that this decision represents, the health board has always said that they want a decision made that would unlock...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for your comments. As I said, assertive and charming—probably more assertive than charming, sometimes. But, no, seriously, it’s been important to see local Members standing up for their communities over a long and a difficult period and I do recognise that. So, the decision has real impact, you’re absolutely right, and, as I tried to make clear yesterday and today, across the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of questions. I recognise your point about the length of time and the fact there has been lobbying, and, again, recognise that the Member for Torfaen has brought a delegation of Members to see me in the short time I’ve been the Cabinet Secretary on more than one occasion, and I’ve always found her assertive and charming, you’ll be delighted to know. This has...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the points and the questions. I think it’s worth reminding ourselves that the current two sites in Nevill Hall and at the Gwent are not exactly immediately close to rail network links. In designing and delivering the future healthcare system, of course, public transport access is important, so I would expect there to be public transport access to this site as it’s being...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Yesterday, I announced the full business case for the specialist and critical care centre, otherwise known as the SCCC, at Llanfrechfa Grange and the release of capital funding of approximately £350 million. The hospital is expected to open in 2022. This is good news for over 600,000 people served by Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board and, indeed, other...
Vaughan Gething: The health board is continuing to develop primary care services, and works closely with its local authority partners on integrated approaches to public services. Innovative examples include working with local authorities and the third sector to identify older people at risk and developing a Stay Well plan with the person; the introduction of specialist diabetic nurses in primary care; and the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the point—I note the picture you paint about English local authorities having widely varying responses, given the population they have, the financial resources they have. And, actually, I think that’s part of the challenge that we want to try and avoid: having a multifaceted system where, actually, you can’t understand the logic of that, and how that meets the needs of the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for those comments and questions, and, again, I should have noted both from Rhun and Angela, and now Caroline, the recognition about the role of a businessperson to add an additional perspective and international experience. And, of course, I’m very pleased to hear the welcome that Members have given to Dr Hussey agreeing to chair this review panel. On the stakeholder reference...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for her comments and questions. Perhaps I can try and deal with the size and the membership of the panel first. I think we're fortunate to have already secured a panel of genuinely independent-minded expertise and experience that covers a range of fields across social care, across the health service, people who have direct experience within Wales and outside Wales,...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the questions and comments. Again, this is an item that comes from agreement between the two parties—that another party in this Chamber has joined constructively with us to have what I hope is a unified position to start from. Then we’ll all have challenges to face when the review delivers its recommendations. There is no avoiding the fact there are very real...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Presiding Officer. We believe, as other parties do, that the time is now right for a rounded and mature conversation about how we shape the future of health and social care services here in Wales. The parliamentary review of health and social care in Wales was agreed as part of our compact, ‘Moving Wales Forward’, with Plaid Cymru. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank...
Vaughan Gething: Well, you make a fair point about the paediatric service being about more than very young children, and not just about the maternity end—the newborn end. And, in fact, when I visited with Joyce Watson recently, I saw a number of families and younger children who were there. In fact, the ambulatory care service makes sure that the overwhelming majority of people are turned around and don’t...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Joyce Watson. You make an important point about a service that isn’t entirely reliant on temporary or locum-based staff, and, indeed, going back to the conversations that we’ve had on several occasions within this Chamber, about the broader picture on recruitment in areas of challenge specialities, but also about maximising the opportunities to work in Wales. So, when we talk...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the follow-up points. I don’t wish to continue to have a row and a series of angry exchanges about the future of paediatric services in west Wales, but it’s hard not to when the Member refuses to acknowledge the factual evidence available and the very best clinical advice about the service model being provided. We have rehearsed time and time again the review by the Royal...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. The Hywel Dda university health board is committed to maintaining the paediatric ambulatory care unit at Withybush hospital. Services are available from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, and local families are being assured that they can continue to access services as they do now and do not need to make changes in how they access care.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I’d like to thank Plaid Cymru for bringing forward the debate and Members who have contributed to a mature and sensible debate, which I think reflects the approach that this Chamber has taken through a range of terms on this issue. Because, as others have said, we all recognise that mental health issues will affect all of us at some time or another,...
Vaughan Gething: Formally.
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I do. We’ve made significant progress on school counselling, in fact, and I’m pleased to see that there’s some recognition both of the importance of it and support for the difficult choices that local authorities and headteachers will have to make about their budget lines, as we face significant challenge over public expenditure generally. But, you make an important point about...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. I’m very happy to recognise the series of references you made to your constituency, where real work is taking place. You’ll recognise that we’ve got an ambition for Wales to be a generally dementia-friendly nation, and that means more dementia-friendly communities and a broader approach that we need to take as a society. Some of that is about recognising that a number of the...
