3. Urgent Question: Abertawe Bro Morgannwg, Cardiff and Vale and Hywel Dda Local Health Boards

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:44 pm on 13 September 2016.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:44, 13 September 2016

Thank you for the question and the points made. I think it is worth reminding ourselves that there is a range of areas where Hywel Dda does particularly well—on diagnostics, for example, it’s done particularly well, and it’s in a position where, at the end of the last year, no-one was waiting more than eight weeks. So, there is a range of positives for Hywel Dda as well as their challenges, and that’s why they’re in this particular area of targeted intervention. Because this isn’t about an arm’s-length finger-pointing exercise; it is about saying, ‘Here are challenges we recognise have not been resolved in the last couple of years’. There is support that’s going to go in to be supportive, to help to deliver the improvement that we expect to see and they should expect to see from themselves, and I’m pleased there’s been a constructive response from the organisation, because we have to be able to identify challenges and then do something about them, rather than simply saying, ‘It’s your fault, now get on with it’. But it is worth while noting that, in the escalation discussion, it wasn’t that just three organisations went up. You mentioned ambulance response times—the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust went down in its escalation status because of the significant and sustained progress it has made, and that is a success story that we should all be prepared to celebrate. It’s about the leadership of an organisation working with trade unions and the workforce to deliver serious and significant improvements right across the country.