Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Llywydd, I will turn now to the review. This was the first three-week review of all the protective measures we have at alert level 0. As the health situation is generally improving, the Cabinet has decided that we will stay at alert level 0. We can also begin to relax some of the protections we have in place. We will do this carefully and in a phased way. From this Friday 18 February onwards,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd, for the opportunity to update Members on the current public health situation and the outcome of the latest review of the coronavirus regulations, which was carried out last week. Wales is currently at alert level 0. We have passed the omicron peak of the Christmas and new year period, and we are growing increasingly confident that cases are declining. Infections in...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr. I'll just finish by saying that I accept that, actually, there's a lot more we need to do in this space. I don't accept that, actually, a cancer plan is the answer, but what I do accept is that we need to provide some real focus to lots of the areas that you've touched upon, but actually we need somebody to make sure that the delivery of that statement, that quality statement,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: It's worth noting that the quality statement for cancer includes 19 care paths for different kinds of cancer. So, truth be told, there is a great deal of ambition and detail here, more than we saw in the previous delivery plans, and in that regard, we're further ahead than the United Kingdom. We have more to do, and we do need to go further; I accept that. We will be updating the quality...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I'm trying to explain to you that, actually, the system—. Why should all that be set within a cancer strategy, if, actually, it could be something where there could be implications for stroke? What are we going to do there? Do you separate them out? Do you put everything—? It's about duplication; I think we've got to be very careful not to duplicate different strategies. What we can't...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Russell. What we don't lack is a target. We've got the target; we're just not meeting the target yet. What we need is a mechanism to reach the target, and that's certainly something we need to make sure that we can deliver on. Many people have talked today about the need to make sure that staffing is in place, for example, and training is in place. Before Christmas, we...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Of course.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr. I'd like to thank Russell and the Conservatives for bringing forward this important debate about cancer services and outcomes. I can tell you that I've listened very carefully to everything that's been said and I will go away and I will consider your deliberations and make sure that I give some serious thought to what you have been talking about this afternoon. I'm afraid I...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Formally.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Jack. And I know that there are many people who are very focused on this issue, and when you have an illness that is so debilitating, then clearly we need to respond. We have not gone down the route of long COVID clinics, but we're following the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, and I'll read to you what the NICE guidelines actually say. They say...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much. I haven't seen that research that suggests that it's similar to Alzheimer's, so if you could send me a copy of that, that would be really useful. What we are trying to do is to learn about long COVID every day. We have invested considerable funding into research, as I set out in my statement, working on this specifically. There are people in particular who are therapists,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr. I can tell you some of the things that we have focused on in terms of what our expectations were. Certainly, we expect staff time, training, therapeutic and technical equipment to have been purchased, and a real emphasis on digital resources. I'm very pleased to say that 10,000 people have downloaded the self-help app. I downloaded it last night and had a good look. It's very,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I think that there is, clearly, an important role for GPs. That's the front door for the way that we operate in terms of the health system here in Wales. And, of course, then, they are referred on to the services that are now available in every health board area in Wales. That is the feedback that we've received from this report. So, I think it is important to ask when...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Russell. I think it is worth pointing out that access in Wales is quicker. What you will know is that they have gone a slightly different direction in England, unlike the way we've gone in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. What that has meant is that, actually, whereas in Wales people are being seen quicker, there is a much longer wait for those clinics, those COVID...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We know that, for a small number of people, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on their lives, and they need ongoing specialist assessment, investigations and treatment. The number of children with long COVID in Wales also remains low, thankfully. Health boards are treating each child in accordance with their specific needs. Our workforce is working extremely hard to support the recovery...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I launched the Adferiad programme last June, a £5 million-package of services for people who are recovering from the long-term effects of COVID-19 in Wales, including long COVID. As part of that announcement, I said we would review the progress of the programme every six months. The first review has considered reports from each of the health boards and feedback from...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks, Alun. I've got to tell you that, actually, we have learnt a hell of a lot from the transformation fund, aspects of which have been extremely successful if you just look at some of the work that's been done on mental health in places like Gwent, some of the other examples I gave. We know that this approach works. I tell you what hasn't happened is it hasn't been mainstreamed, it hasn't...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Jenny, and, firstly, can I commend your enthusiasm for the Buurtzorg model, the neighbourhood district nursing model, which I know that you're very, very keen on? What we've got in relation to neighbourhood district nursing—. We have learnt some lessons from the Cwm Taf model. There's a lead nurse who has been appointed as part of the primary and community care strategic...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Mike. Certainly, in terms of prevention, that's very much the whole philosophy behind the 'A Healthier Wales' programme, which you will be aware of. And if the pandemic has shown us anything, it has shown that, actually, it's the people who are the poorest, it's the most disadvantaged, who've actually paid the greatest price. And so unless we start to address that issue of...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Rhun. I think it's important that we don't throw everything out, everything that's happened previously, because there was good practice that was happening with the ICF and the transformation programme as well. So, it's important that we do take that and we take the innovation. But the trouble was, because people didn't see that there was any continuity, they didn't...
