<p>Promoting Health and Well-being</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 27 September 2016.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:54, 27 September 2016

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.