Vaughan Gething: We are working closely with the NHS to deliver a major programme of improvements in CAMHS. The additional £8 million a year investment made in 2015 is already showing benefits with a 42 per cent reduction in young people waiting over 16 weeks from its peak in September 2015, compared to July 2016.
Vaughan Gething: I expect local health boards to maximise the use of minor injuries units, and all other available capacity in providing timely access to patients who do not have a serious injury but may require assessment and treatment. This should form part of an integrated unscheduled care system.
Vaughan Gething: I expect health boards to ensure that all patients, both new and follow-up, are seen in a timely manner based on clinical need.
Vaughan Gething: Work to tackle drug and alcohol addiction is undertaken through our substance misuse delivery plan 2016-18, which was published last month. The actions in the plan support our ambitions in ‘Taking Wales Forward’. We commit nearly £50 million per annum to this agenda, with a focus on reducing the harm substance misuse causes individuals, families and communities.
Vaughan Gething: Health boards are progressing with significant investment in neonatal services in both north and south Wales. This will further support the steady improvements in every health board’s achievement of the all-Wales neonatal standards since 2008.
Vaughan Gething: I expect health boards to plan and configure services that meet the needs of their people. This includes the provision of a sufficient number of hospital beds, deemed to be clinically necessary, to meet local expected demand, taking into account fluctuations in demand that occur throughout the year.
Vaughan Gething: The dementia action plan is going to be written this year. So, it will be available this year, and work is actually being undertaken now to do so. I attended an event two weeks ago at the University of South Wales, bringing together a range of different people, both carers and individuals who have dementia, and third sector organisations, as part of how we’re actually trying to drive...
Vaughan Gething: Perhaps if I start with the first point, I think perhaps there may have been some confusion about the content of the statement. This is about the action plans that we have—the delivery plans covering major health conditions, of which there are 10. And, in particular, I’ve been referring to the six that are being refreshed and are due to be re-launched within this year. That’s why...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of comments and questions. I certainly recognise that there’s more to do in the areas both of survivor rehabilitation and prevention—in each of these areas. That’s why we have this approach—bringing together people who have a direct interest in this from outside Government, within Government and the NHS too. The example you started with of stroke is a good...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of questions. Perhaps I can start with the end, just to deal with that quickly. It is £1 million for each of the major condition plans, and how that money is used is decided by the implementation group. So, there’s a range of people from the health service who are involved. It’s often a medical director or chief executive of a local health board or trust who is...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the series of points and questions. If I can go back to, I guess, some of the starting gambit—I think it’s rather unfortunate that, sometimes, the impression given, when you talk about broader improvements in healthcare, is that all of this is inevitable and that the role of the delivery plans and the implementation groups have had no impact at all. I don’t think that’s...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Last October, I shared with the previous Assembly my plans to extend the major health delivery plans until March 2020. The cancer, heart disease, diabetes, end-of-life care, critically ill and stroke delivery plans have been reviewed and are in the process of being refreshed. The respiratory and neurological conditions plans will be reviewed in 2017. The...
Vaughan Gething: I’ll come back to that point directly, as I come to a close, because I think it’s really important to set out the principles that we have, and the fact that we will want to support nursing students. We are not taking the approach that has been taken in England. Obviously I’ll need to consider the final budget settlement in doing that as well, and that’s been a consistent conversation...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’d like to thank Members for taking part in this important debate today. I can confirm that the Government will support the motion. It is important to recognise that NHS bursary arrangements cover a wide range of professions and not solely nurses—that was a point highlighted by David Rees. The Conservative Government’s decision to remove...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments. I’ll start with the last points that you were mentioning on clinical exceptionality and/or need. The reality is that we already have a system providing evidence on what should be provided. Need is very much a part of it—whether it’s something that is clinically effective—but you can’t get away from the reality of resource as well. The NHS has a budget to...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for those comments. Again, I am pleased that each of the spokespeople have felt able to come into the Chamber and talk about the way in which we’ve approached this issue and welcome the membership of the group. I look forward to them all being equally positive when they provide their recommendations. Although we may have different issues to deal with at times, we actually have to...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments and the questions. I’ll try and deal relatively briefly with them. On the new treatment fund, then, if you like, the predecessor to this will help to inform where we are on hepatitis C and a range of other conditions where we’ve provided significant resources to make sure they’re available on a consistent basis. It is for the initial year, as I said before and...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions. I want to begin by welcoming the constructive conversation, both with Rhun and with other opposition health spokespeople, up to this point, on the terms of reference of the review. I hope that other opposition spokespeople found it useful to meet Mr Blakeman as the chair of the review group. I think we have an excellent appointment, not just of the chair, but of...
Vaughan Gething: At the Plenary session on 12 July, I set out my plans for establishing a new treatment fund and undertaking a sharply-focused, independent review of the individual patient funding request process, commonly known as IPFR. I am pleased to have this opportunity to provide Assembly Members and the people of Wales with an update on the progress that we have made over the summer. I’ll begin with...
Vaughan Gething: The review group have begun their work and will meet for the first time together on 6 October. I will publish the report and announce actions arising from the review group’s recommendations early in the new year. Taken together, the new treatment fund and the review of the IPFR process will lead to a real change in how patients in Wales gain access to innovative medicines, and I expect a...
