Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 3:01 pm on 13 July 2016.
Thank you for the question. I quite agree with the points that are made. The level of intolerance that I’m sure each of us has seen within our communities, directed at public servants and people in private life as well, is something that I feel deeply ashamed and angry about, because I want our country to be a properly outward-looking, welcoming place where we value what people do and what people bring to us and our country. In particular, in the health service, we are reliant on a range of health professionals from around the world to make the service work, to deliver the quality care that we value. I really do think that the messaging the NHS is giving, and Members of the Cabinet are giving, to all parts of the service, making it clear that we welcome the fact that people are here, we want them to stay and they are welcome to stay and keep on delivering that real value to our services, is really important. We can’t say it often enough.
On recruitment, I should say, I’ve met a range of doctors who have been recruited from within the EU and outside and it’s a good example of a health board that has changed its attitude in the way it talks about its services and has been more successful in selling the idea of living in west Wales as well as working there in a really successful manner. There’s a lesson there for other health boards about what they can do if there’s a level of ambition and equally if the clinical community is prepared to say, ‘We want these services to work and we want to be part of making that work and attracting more people to come to work with us as part of the healthcare team’.