Vaughan Gething: I'd like to thank the Member for the three specific areas of questions. I'll deal with them in reverse order. On general practice, and Saltney that he mentioned in particular, there's good news in that every scheme in north Wales for GP training has recruited or over-recruited to its capacity, so we're attracting people to work right across the whole country. It's good news for the whole of...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions and the comments. I particularly welcome the recognition from the Member that the pandemic response from staff and organisations in north Wales has been second to none. It has been a very positive and impressive response. And, again, that underpins an organisation where others would have been concerned about the ability of the organisation to work effectively in...
Vaughan Gething: Well, it's disappointing, but perhaps not unusual, to have a predictably unreasonable response from Mr Millar. The refusal to give any credit to staff for progress made over the last few years that has led to special measures being lifted is unfortunate. In particular, I remind Members, both in this Chamber but also externally, of not just the progress that has been assured by the tripartite...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Members will be aware that health boards and trusts in Wales have their escalation and intervention status considered as part of our joint escalation and intervention arrangements. This involves Welsh Government officials meeting with Audit Wales and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales twice a year to discuss the overall position of NHS Wales organisations in...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Llywydd, and I'd like to thank Members for their contributions to today's debate. It is just over a week since the end of the firebreak. The early signs are encouraging, with cases of coronavirus continuing to fall. For the week ending 1 November, there were 8,660 confirmed cases in Wales, and for the week ending 15 November, there were 4,212 confirmed cases. So, fewer than half...
Vaughan Gething: Formally, Llywydd.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I won’t trouble myself with the deliberately offensive comments of the last speaker, and the factually incorrect comments. I thank the Chair of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee for their scrutiny and for the summary of that scrutiny in his contributions. We continue to take seriously the points they raise and it does lead to changes in...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I move the motions before us for the relevant sets of regulations. We introduced the firebreak as we believed that we had to act early and decisively in the face of a real and increasing public health threat from a virus that was spreading across our nation and threatening to overwhelm our NHS. We won’t see the full impact of the firebreak for another...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to the Member for her speech and choice of debate tonight. Timely access to NHS services has been and continues to be a priority for this Government. From 2015, we made significant additional annual investment in planned care. This resulted in four years of sustained reduction in the number of patients waiting over 36 weeks to start...
Vaughan Gething: We have yet to conclude our discussions with primary care about the delivery of any vaccine, and again it's important to remember 'any vaccine', because there are other candidates, not just the Pfizer candidate, that again, at this point in time, is not approved. And that will affect how we would deliver those vaccines, because my recollection is that this vaccine would need to be stored at...
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I'll happily deal with the last point first, as it were, on Wales receiving its fair share. That is absolutely going to happen. So, the advance procurement of this by the UK Government, there's already agreement as to how that will be distributed and there's a clear written agreement between the nations on that, and Wales, as other UK nations, will get a Barnett population share. So,...
Vaughan Gething: In terms of the point about when will we be ready in Wales, we have had planning scenarios so that if a vaccine—and it is still an 'if'—is available before the end of this year, then we will be able to undertake that programme here in Wales. And if that was 1 December, then we could do so. That does depend on a number of factors, though. It depends on who we'd be delivering the vaccine...
Vaughan Gething: It's normally the other way round. As the Member will know from the two questions I answered last week to his colleague Nick Ramsay and the Member for Islwyn, Rhianon Passmore, the Welsh Government has been working closely for many months with the UK Government, other devolved nations, and on an all-Wales basis with key stakeholders such as Public Health Wales, health boards, trusts and local...
Vaughan Gething: Earlier today I met with the World Health Organization—I met with the director for the European region, Dr Hans Kluge. And he was clear that lockdowns are a last resort, but the position we were in was that other measures had not been successful. The rising tide we were seeing—the rising tide of harm—would have led to much greater harm, not just in terms of COVID, but the impact that...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I listened to the contribution the Member made, and I have to say that I disagreed with not just the thrust of his argument, but a great deal of the detail that he claimed to put in, and I think it was an example of promoting the fringes of opinion in a way that is dangerous, and really can lead to misinforming the public at a time when we need more...
Vaughan Gething: I thank the Member for the question. We certainly haven't forgotten the numbers of people who identify with being affected by long COVID, and this is both for those people who have needed hospital treatment, but large numbers of people who had never been into a hospital but are suffering longer term impacts, and I know that is a deeply distressing experience for those people, and that does...
Vaughan Gething: Da iawn. I issued a written statement about long COVID on 23 October. Our approach has focused on research and rehabilitation. Our multiprofessional primary and community health and care services can assess and meet the majority of people's individual needs close to home, with in-patient specialist rehabilitation only where necessary.
Vaughan Gething: I think it's important to understand that there is an ongoing process. The health board has appealed the decision for a full release of the report, as opposed to the summary that it's already provided, including the recommendations that have already been published. That's on the basis that the health board want to protect staff who raised concerns and contributed to the report. If I can just...
Vaughan Gething: I expect all health boards in Wales to behave in an open and transparent way, while balancing their obligations in respect of safeguarding the rights of individuals to privacy.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. I think it's really important to remind ourselves that a vaccine won't be a magic bullet in itself. It is really important to reflect that the efficacy and impact of a vaccine in its first stage of delivery is not something that we will fully understand until it's given on a wider population basis. That's why the safety trials for a vaccine before being introduced are so important,...
