<p>Engaging with Patients in North Wales</p>

Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 3:09 pm on 13 July 2016.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:09, 13 July 2016

I thank the Member for his question. There are two different points here. The first is about central services and the central guidance that the OECD refer to, and they’re not really talking about the Government overtaking the role of local health boards in engaging with their local population to explain their proposals for improving the service that people receive. As I said in my initial answer, as part of special measures, we recognise that this particular health board in north Wales had a problem in engaging with its local population, and engaging in genuine consultation about proposals for service change. That’s part of what we expect them to improve upon. They have made progress. It isn’t complete, and I wouldn’t say that it’s job done. So, it’s work in progress, but I’m really clear that the local health board have to be able to properly engage with people before service changes are made, and to properly consult with them. But this is also important—about the clinical community and wider NHS staff being engaged too, because they have to be a part of engaging with their local population. They are people that people will trust, and value their opinions too, and there was a real fracture in the relationship in the past. I’m pleased that positive progress has been made. I expect that to be continued, and I will also be looking at the objective assessment of regulators at the next tripartite meeting to understand whether adequate progress is being made in this area, as in the others of special measures in north Wales.