Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. I’ll start with the one point of disagreement, which is that I don’t think there’s any real evidence that the ageing population is leading to early retirements in our GP workforce. There are a range of pressures upon primary care and secondary care, which are felt right across the UK, and that includes GP recruitment and a range of specialities in...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for his question. I’ll start by making clear that, whilst there has been a welcome reduction in the number of 12-hour waits over the last month, there’s no illusion that we’re in an acceptable position. I don’t think the number of 12-hour waits is acceptable and, in my earlier answer, I made clear that that message has been given to the service and the expectation...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I think it’s fair to say we need a whole-system response to the challenges that are being faced. So, it’s about: how are people conveyed to an emergency department, going back to Dawn Bowden's question earlier, to ensure people make an informed choice about what to do? It’s also about how primary care have tooled up to deal with unscheduled care, to make sure...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. I am encouraged to see further improvements in performance against the four-hour target and a reduction in lengthy waits during May. Despite daily attendances rising by 8 per cent when compared with the previous month, eight out of 10 patients spent fewer than eight hours in emergency departments from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge. I have...
Vaughan Gething: I expect to see further improvements in response times in every single health board area—
Vaughan Gething: And I expect, when we see the next series of quality indicators in the next quarterly report at the end of July, that you’ll see I’m optimistic that Hywel Dda will have hit its response times, because it hasn’t always done so at the start of the pilot. This was part of the recognition of where we are. Across the whole of Wales, we’re hitting the target. The challenge is, in those...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. Thank you for the question. You make a completely fair point about how we encourage and equip the public to make more informed choices, to access healthcare appropriately so that if you don’t need the precious resource of an emergency ambulance response, there are other alternatives available to you and how you access those is easily understood and available. So, there is more work...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I think it is important to try and understand how best to deal with concerns people raise when ringing call handlers. I can’t speak for every other emergency service and the way they deal with matters—of course, one of them is not currently devolved—but I do expect that, in examining all the information of the ambulance quality indicators and looking at the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I’m pleased with the significant progress made by the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust in implementing the organisational changes to the service recommended by the McClelland review. In May, the target for responses to the red category of the most life-threatening emergencies had been met or exceeded for the eighth month in a row with 75.5 per cent being...
Vaughan Gething: The Welsh Government believes that modern, appropriate and accessible sports facilities are key in encouraging more people to take part in sport. Sport Wales, our delivery agent, is working with partners to ensure that there are good quality facilities spread across Wales.
Vaughan Gething: Gluten-free products are an essential part of the clinical treatment of coeliac disease. National prescribing guidance was published in 2013 to support healthcare professionals in the management of patients with coeliac disease. Coeliac UK has supported the development of the guidance including the updated version published in March 2016.
Vaughan Gething: Last month, the First Minister made a statement setting out the Welsh Government’s legislative programme for 2016/17. For health wellbeing and sport, the key legislation is the reintroduction of a Public Health Bill, although clearly there is a close interest in the Additional Learning Needs Bill. There will also be a secondary legislation programme stemming from the recently passed...
Vaughan Gething: I met representatives on 6 July to hear their views about future support for those affected by NHS supplied contaminated blood. I clarified current scheme funding arrangements and reaffirmed that a decision about the way forward for Wales would be made when the outcome of the England consultation is known.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for that, again, constructive contribution and also for the conversations that we’ve had with other spokespeople leading up to today. Again, I welcome the recognition about the IPFR review, that it’s the right thing to be doing. The one point of disagreement I have is about the cancer drugs fund saving lives. We don’t have any evidence that the cancer drugs fund saved lives....
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions and comments. Again, I’m pleased for the constructive manner in which you have engaged in the conversation, and your welcome for the review. The IPFR review is exactly that: it is a review. I’m not asking people to sign up to what comes from it. The report will have recommendations. I’m just going to deal first with your point about the practical delivery. I...
Vaughan Gething: Can I thank you for that series of questions? I’ll start with the new treatment fund. We expect the financial envelope that we have announced and placed upon it to be adequate to deal with the medications we would expect. That’s based on our previous experience and some horizon scanning of likely treatments that can come on board and the high-cost medications we’ve dealt with in the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. In our manifesto, we made a commitment to improve the introduction of innovative treatments by establishing a new treatment fund in Wales. We also agreed with Plaid Cymru, as part of the compact to move Wales forward, to undertake an independent review of the individual patient funding request process, otherwise known as IPFR. In Wales, we are proud to...
Vaughan Gething: As I said, we announced significant additional investment last year of £7.65 million, and I indicated that in my opening remarks as well. So, I don’t accept that there has been a reduction in funding for CAMHS; that isn’t the challenge that we face. In fact, we wouldn’t have been able to recruit new people into the service to do something about addressing long waiting times—certainly...
Vaughan Gething: I think there’s a point about seeing the whole person, rather than one particular condition, but if you write to me on that particular issue, I can offer something more helpful on it. I’ll try and make some progress. Again, the UKIP spokesperson made a number of constructive points. The only thing that I would say in particular is, on the call for more money, I have indicated we’re...
Vaughan Gething: I’ll just finish this point. That was taken forward in the recent Together for Children and Young People programme, and the conference that I spoke to remotely—I couldn’t attend there on the day. This is something we have to work through at both ends is the point that I’m trying to make. I don’t mind who intervenes first. [Interruption.] Well, Angela Burns I heard first, and then...
