6. Will the First Minister outline how the Welsh Government is helping the NHS prepare for the forthcoming winter? OAQ(5)0162(FM)

We’ll continue to support health and social care organisations in Wales through our quarterly national seasonal planning meetings, which support their seasonal planning arrangements. And, of course, as part of that, preparedness for the forthcoming winter period is paramount.

Thank you, First Minister. Last winter, we saw unprecedented levels of demand on unscheduled care. People struggling to get access to a GP over the winter months put enormous strain on our A&E departments as patients go there to seek medical treatment. According to the RCN, our hospitals are so full all year round that the system cannot cope with the seasonal spike in demand. We have to address the GP-access issue if we are to avoid the scenes we saw last winter with ambulances stacked up outside hospitals. What plans does the Welsh Government have to improve the out-of-hours GP service and make greater use of community pharmacies in treating minor ailments this winter? Will you be running a publicity campaign highlighting the role of pharmacies in treating minor ailments?

We do; the Choose Well campaign has been doing that for many years and, indeed, there’s an app available for people who want to access it. We encourage people to look, in the first place, at a pharmacist, then to look at a community nurse, and then to think about the GP. It’s quite right to say to people, ‘Don’t default to the A&E department first or, indeed, to a GP first.’ So, that’s already in train. In terms of out-of-hours, it’s available in our DGHs and elsewhere. The issue in the winter is not the numbers of people coming through A&E, but the conditions that they have: there are many more, older people with respiratory conditions that are more complex, who need more time in A&E and, ultimately, admission. Last year, the preparedness plans worked well. It can be difficult, of course, to predict the demand on the NHS in the winter because of the weather, basically. But, nevertheless, we scrutinise the preparedness of each local health board to make sure that we can be satisfied that they are ready for the winter.

Under the children’s health plan that you published, First Minister, every child under seven is supposed to be given the same consistency of service in winter and summer. So, how do you respond to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s report today on babies born prematurely, which shows that they are given a second-rate service here in Wales? Only 31 per cent, for example, of premature babies are given a crucial second appointment by their second birthday. That is half the percentage across the rest of the UK. Having centralised the service for premature babies—the closure of the unit in Withybush and moving it to Glangwili—they are still given a second-rate service as compared to the best services throughout the UK. Is it empty rhetoric, therefore, when you are unable to provide what is crucially important and fundamental today?

No, not at all, bearing in mind that, according to the report itself, approximately 90 per cent of the services are working well. There are some parts of the service that need improvement—that’s true—and that’s why we welcome such reports, so that we can identify where there is room for improvement. But we know, according to the Nuffield report, that there is very little difference between the health services across the United Kingdom. We will continue to ensure that the best treatments are available and that where things are good but could be better that they improve.

First Minister, winter pressures haunt us every year: we have these kinds of conversations and it’s always the same groups of people—the elderly, the young and the chronically ill. However, in Pembrokeshire, the community resource teams, which are a joint collaboration between the health board and local government, have been incredibly effective in working together to ensure that people have access to the right services and in preventing hospital admissions. They focus on preventative care and they reduce the need for complex care packages. Basically, their job is to be out there to avert crises. They work in the community, in tandem with doctors. There’s no coincidence, First Minister, that this is a health board that actually has a director of therapies and social sciences—a former occupational therapist. They’re stopping people getting into hospitals, particularly the elderly and particularly those with respiratory problems.

First Minister, would you, first of all, welcome the work they’re doing, because they’re one of the leading practitioners of this in Wales—them and Neath Port Talbot? Secondly, would you come to Pembrokeshire to, first of all, see them in action and also understand a little bit more about the benefits that a director of therapies and social services—allied healthcare professionals—can bring to the changing face of NHS healthcare, particularly over these next 10 to 15 years, when we need more of these people, not fewer?

How can I refuse such an offer? In principle, I’d like to accept that, because I’m interested in the work that the Member has described. I can see the passion that she displays in advocating the work that she has seen them do. I’d like to see it for myself.

Question 7 [OAQ(5)0166(FM)] was withdrawn by the Member, so question 8, Llyr Gruffydd.