Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Llywydd, of course I am more than anxious to listen to the genuine concerns of local people in relation to any developments in the Hywel Dda health board area, and of course, the decision ultimately in terms of configuration is one for Hywel Dda and it will be presented to the Welsh Government. I would be grateful if you could have a little word with the Secretary of State for Wales to cool...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. The priority for delivering health services in the Hywel Dda area is planning for the continued provision of essential and key services, alongside caring for patients affected by COVID-19, and also working towards the delivery of wider, more routine, services when it is safe to do so.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. Yes, it is my birthday, as it is Peter Hain's and John Taylor from Duran Duran. [Laughter.] And Amanda Holden too, I understand, so I'm in very good company. Just in terms of the consultation on the surgery in Pentyrch, I have received a referral on 17 January covering this particular situation, and I've also received a letter from the LHB on this whole issue. Of...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Mark, and certainly, I'm very interested in the issue of hepatitis C, which, of course, is a very long-term condition that many people have to live with. I'm very pleased to agree to take a look at whether there's any possibility of moving that target date. Clearly, the sooner we can eliminate this situation, the better, so I will undertake to have another look to see if...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Vikki, and I read the report, 'No place like home', with interest, and I agree with very many of the recommendations and I'm very pleased to say that we're already delivering in many of the areas that have been set out there. There's nobody, I don't think, who is more keen to get people back into their homes when they're ready for discharge from hospitals than I am. I'm very...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Vikki. We have stated our ambition for the NHS in Wales to be a quality-led service, where the right care is provided at the right time and in the right place. This includes access to care closer to home, where possible, and in specialist centres, where appropriate.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We continue to implement a safe, phased, re-establishment of NHS dental services. Practices are prioritising care according to need and are treating urgent cases and people who are experiencing problems first. In addition, measures are in place for dental practices providing NHS care to see new patients each week.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We are committed to undergraduate medical education in north Wales and are working towards this commitment. We have increased medical student places across Wales, to 25 in September 2021 and 40 in September 2022 on the C21 north Wales programme, and an extra 25 places on the graduate entry programme in Swansea from September 2021.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: From April, every community pharmacy in Wales will be able to provide the new clinical community pharmacy service. This will increase availability of an extended range of clinical services from all pharmacies and support efforts to improve access and promote the appropriate use of NHS services.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, I can give that assurance, absolutely. Of course we would want to do that. So, I can give you that assurance, and if we saw them taking advantage of the situation, we would play hell with them. So, I think I can give you that assurance. And also I'm happy to give you the assurance that, in terms of international agreements, if those were to happen, then we would be able to give some...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: So, thank you very much, and I do urge Members to support this motion. Thank you.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: —consequential amendments, I understand that this is not an ideal way to make law. We all understand that. But we're not in a position, always, to get the perfect, and so, of course, there is a constitutional risk for Wales. The question is: how much of a risk are you prepared to take? At the beginning of this process, it was a constitutional risk too far, and that's why I would not have...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We have had strong negotiations with the UK Government throughout, and that has led to a number of important amendments. On this occasion, may I say that we did negotiate? We've had a lot of our own way, we've come a long way, and they have understood our arguments, and I'm pleased that that's been the case. In terms of the—
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Llywydd, and thank you very much to Members for their contributions to this debate, and a particular thanks to members of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee and the Health and Social Care Committee, and thank you particularly for your reports. I am pleased that we were able to respond to those this morning.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: You have heard that the despatch box commitments have already been given, and what was given there is some detail of exactly what is meant by the kind of constitutional interpretation that they were thinking of. So, it's mainly changing the name of an organisation—if they were going to do that in England, that they'd change the name. So, they gave some examples, and that's the whole point...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr. Today, I'm recommending that the Senedd consents to the legislative consent motion on the Health and Care Bill. This is a large and complex Bill, which, whilst mostly applying only to England, contains some provisions that do apply to Wales, and a number of provisions that require the legislative consent of the Senedd. Some of those areas, such as medicine information systems,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Sarah. I'm pleased to say that we have tried, throughout this pandemic, to take that evidence-based approach, which was why we were slightly blindsided by the UK Government making an announcement that they clearly hadn't discussed with almost anyone in terms of stopping self-isolation. So, it is a shame that we get to that situation, and it's pretty obvious that it's a...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, James, and I am also very concerned about the situation in relation to ambulances, and that's why I have had a meeting with the chief executive of the ambulance service this morning, just to see what it is we can do to improve the situation. We have already recruited 127 additional people for the ambulance service—that's happened over the past few months. The other thing...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Rhun, and I'm pleased that you agree with the purposeful attitude that we have taken. And as you say, there are very few restrictions left in place. And I agree that some will continue to wish to use the COVID passes in some occasions. We're all eager for this pandemic to be over, but that isn't the way that COVID works. COVID has a mind of its own and behaves in its own...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Russell. Of course, we will have to learn to live with COVID. It's not going away, it's not going to disappear, and that's why, in the next three-week review, you'll be seeing us really developing a longer term strategy for how we intend to do that. I'll jump, if you don't mind, to your last point, which is on mandatory isolation, because I think there's a link here. The...
