Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much. I'm very troubled to hear that yet another person is suffering and is in difficulty because of the waiting lists. Certainly, I'm very concerned about, in particular, people who I know are waiting for hip operations. I know somebody in this Chamber whose mother has recently undergone a hip replacement and was certainly in a lot of pain until that point. So, I'm very keen to...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much. Tackling the backlog of patients is a key priority for this Government. Last month, I launched the planned care recovery plan, which sets out our approach to reducing waiting times in Wales so that patients get the care and treatment they deserve, supported by an additional recurrent investment of £170 million.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. Certainly, Brexit hasn't assisted the situation in terms of the number of nurses working in our communities and in our hospitals. Of course, we would prefer to see people working full time for the NHS and not working for agencies, so we do have to continually strive to improve that situation, and the way to do that is to ensure that there are more people within the NHS....
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, and I'm very sorry to hear that. Clearly, that's a cause for concern. I did meet with union members in north Wales recently—members of the RCN and Unison—and this wasn't an issue that they raised with me. So, clearly, we must ensure that there are other routes by which they can raise such concerns. I do think it's important that everyone can be open. If we can't be...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, thanks very much, and I'm very aware of the incredible pressure, in particular, that patients are seeing in our emergency departments. We are clearly in a situation where those pressures are boiling over at some points, and one of the things that I've been doing is making impromptu visits to some of our accident and emergency departments just to see for myself the pressure that they're...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Tackling the backlog of patients is a key priority for this Government. Last month, I launched the planned care recovery plan that sets out our approach to reduce waiting times in Wales so that patients get the care and treatment they deserve, supported by an additional recurrent investment of £170 million.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Altaf, and I would like to assure you that if dental treatment is urgent or the patient is in pain, it is expected that health boards will have provision in place to provide care quickly. And one of the things that I'm doing at the moment is I'm going through the details of the integrated medium term plans for each of the health boards and I'm making sure that every one of...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Sioned. And you'll be aware that there has been a particular issue in relation to dentistry because of the need for infection control measures to ensure that people remain safe, including patients and the dentists themselves. And that's why we've seen a 50 per cent reduction in the number of people who have been able to access NHS dentistry. We have, of course, put measures in...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. We are working on system reform in dentistry and moving forward collaboratively with the primary care reform programme in 2022, and this includes working in partnership with the dental profession to improve access to, and experience and quality of, dental care.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Apart from opening a medical school in north Wales, which was contained within our manifesto, one of the things that we're doing is ensuring that there is a possibility for people coming from abroad to train here to continue to work here. Until this point, there has been a problem in terms of getting a certificate of completion training, so our concern was that over the next three years, we...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I have regular meetings with health board chairs and vice chairs to discuss the planning and delivery of services. Primary care services across the whole of Wales are working hard to respond to increased pressure from patient demand.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The six goals for urgent and emergency care programme set clear expectations for delivery of more sustainable, safer and effective urgent and emergency care. Betsi Cadwaladr UHB will receive an additional £3m annually to deliver its local six goals programme, to help improve the outcomes and experience of patients who access emergency care, including in Emergency Departments.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I expect local health boards, as joint commissioners of ambulance services, to work with the Welsh Ambulance Services Trust to understand local challenges and agree collaborative actions to ensure patients within their communities receive a safe and timely response, through a whole system approach, ensuring ambulance crews are available to respond when needed.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. Well, in response to the final question, whether it's impossible to see a difference being made to outcomes, well no, that's why doing something about inequality is a key part of what we're measuring here. And I'm very eager not to just talk here; what we need are things that are measurable. And I'm determined to ensure that that is possible in the preventative arena, as...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr. I'm pleased that we're on the same page on this. So, I'm very keen to stop being in a situation where we're just constantly looking at how much money do we put into the system. What we've got to start measuring is what comes out the other end. What difference will it make to the public and to patients? And if we can do that in an efficient and effective way, measuring what...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The overarching outcome chosen for the framework is based upon the 'A Healthier Wales' vision, namely all people in Wales enjoying good health and well-being. This is supported by 13 proposed population indicators that, when combined, will help to demonstrate the achievement of the outcome. Five of the 13 outcome indicators are national well-being indicators that are used to monitor progress...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Llywydd, and thank you for speaking so slowly there.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Llywydd, can I thank you for the opportunity to outline the plans of our health and social care outcome framework? Now, in my statement today, I will outline the role and function of the outcome framework, how it's being developed and discuss the proposed next steps. The Deputy Ministers and I are committed to improving the health and well-being of the people of Wales. We're clear that plans...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: —the COVID public inquiry, you will be aware of our position on this. We've made it clear all along that we are unlikely to see a Welsh public inquiry because we are a system where COVID is more or less integrated with the UK. Many of the decisions that we made were decisions based on analysis and evidence that we had via the UK Government. Certainly, our ability to stop COVID from entering...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. It is good to see that the numbers have come down, as you mentioned, and we know this because of the ONS and wastewater data. It's clear that new guidance has been given to universities and colleges with regard to how to deal with COVID, and, as part of that, of course, there will be a requirement for people to consider how they will ensure there is ventilation and fresh...
