3. What assessment has the First Minister made of the role of allied health and social care professionals in delivering Welsh Government priorities of promoting health and well-being throughout life? OAQ(5)0160(FM)

I’m grateful to the Member for this question, because they are the unsung heroes of the health service in many ways. They work in the community and in primary care, and, of course, they deliver a lot of preventative care, which is difficult to measure in itself, because how do you measure something that prevents something that would have happened in the future? Of course, they help to deal with admission avoidance, so that more people don’t have to go into hospital, but have the support to stay at home.

I thank the First Minister for that answer. I had better declare an interest, as my wife—it’s in the register of interests—is a radiographer. She also has very cold hands, so I warn people in advance. [Laughter.] In Wales, 50 per cent of people—[Interruption.] She does. [Laughter.] Fifty per cent of the population of Wales will be over 65 by 2037. There is now a higher proportion of people aged 85 plus as we speak. The increase in chronic conditions and comorbidity, resulting in complex health needs, is documented and is there for all to see. This will require a real determination to deliver the Welsh Government’s strategy and to align that workforce toward primary care and picking them up where we can actually keep people in a well-being service, not a rescue and an illness service. So, will he congratulate my wife and all of those who work in allied health and social care professions, and congratulate also Dave Rees for hosting an event last week at which all of those professions were there? They deserve our thanks and our gratitude. They have a huge role to play.

I will join, of course, the Member in congratulating the Member for Aberavon. I am not sure that harmony will reign in his house over this evening given what was revealed to us in terms of information. But he’s right: the challenge that faces us in the future is, as people get older—yes, many of those people will be fitter when they’re older, but, inevitably, people get a number of small conditions that, taken together, make it difficult for them to live their lives in the way that they would want. It’s rare for somebody to have one very serious condition that disables them. Quite often, it’s just a combination of different things. What, then, can the AHPs do? Well, early recognition of problems and timely intervention so that things are dealt with early on; admission prevention; facilitated discharge; rehab and reablement—very important, obviously; support for chronic conditions as well, so that people with chronic conditions don’t have to continually go back to hospital in order to deal with a particular flare of a chronic condition; and, of course, what they do in terms of being able to add to a multi-agency and multidisciplinary team to help the individual. We know that, in the future, there will be more pressure as people live longer—something to be welcomed—but also there is still a frailty of the human body that we can’t legislate for, and more and more people, as they get older, will need help with what may be a number of smaller conditions, but nevertheless are significant for them as an individual.

Thank you, Llywydd. Over the past few weeks I’ve visited two pharmacies in my constituency—the Rowlands pharmacy in Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll and the Boots branch in Llangefni. Pharmacies, of course, play a crucial role in the wider provision of primary care, and I would certainly want to see that provision extended. Does the First Minister agree with me that we need to do away with some of the barriers that prevent pharmacies from playing their full role, including actually putting aside the ban on advertising some of their services, for example flu jabs and services in terms of smoking prevention and so on?

Yes, that’s right, and that will be part of the public health Bill. It’s important that any nonsensical obstacles are done away with. But we know, of course, that pharmacies play a vitally important role in ensuring that people receive advice without having to go to see their general practitioner, and also, of course, we would wish to extend the services available from pharmacies ultimately, bearing in mind, of course, that more and more of them have received clinical training so that they can actually work in those areas.

First Minister, I also share the admiration mentioned here for the jobs that our health and social care professionals undertake throughout the country. The multidisciplinary approach provided to patients by doctors working closely with such professionals has proven to be very effective, particularly in the health boards where they have a director of therapy and health sciences on their boards. You can see that by the examples of some of the ones that are recognised good examples throughout Wales. So, First Minister, what could you do to embed this role, given the ever-changing nature of healthcare provision, and will you review or undertake to discuss with your colleagues the review of the continuous performance development training for these people so that we can better identify and prepare for the next generation of directors of therapies and health sciences?

Yes, but first of all we would expect local health boards to see what works in other health boards and then use that best practice, and apply that best practice, in their own areas. Where there’s evidence of that practice working well, then clearly we would want them to look at it to see if it’s appropriate in their own area and, if so, to implement that. When it comes to CPD, many professionals, of course, are governed by professional bodies that are, of themselves, not devolved, if I can put it that way, and have their own requirements for CPD. But if that is an issue, then it’s something, of course, that the Minister might be able to look at in order to see how the position of the directors that you’ve referred to can be strengthened in the future.