Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 2:26 pm on 13 July 2016.
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 that people who can be seen and treated within their community setting and don’t need to go into an emergency department in the first place—. Then, of course, it is about what happens in the transfer between ambulances and hospitals, where people are there and need to be there. What we do need to then make sure is that flow takes place through the whole hospital system and out of the back door; that’s then the point about delayed transfers of care within the NHS and with social care too.
So, I recognise that all of those things have an impact. Staffing levels and bed numbers are only part of the challenge, and we do need to look at it in its whole sense. That’s why the unscheduled care board does look at this through that whole-systems approach. I was really pleased to attend the seasonal planning forum event last week where, actually, that whole-systems approach was in evidence, and, also, all partners were there to discuss what they needed to do to improve the whole system for the benefit of the patient and the staff working in the system.