Cabinet Secretary, thanks for your statement today. Some good news, at last; it has been a long time coming. When you mentioned the frustration of certain Members, I think a large chunk of that frustration has come from the Member for Torfaen and me over the last few weeks and months. We have called for this statement, and you did say you would deliver it at the end of October, and you have, so thank you for that.

You told us what we’ve wanted to hear and what clinicians have been calling for for a very long time in south-east Wales. I think I attended my first Gwent Clinical Futures meeting on the development of the specialist critical care centre back in 2004—the work, in those days, of the Gwent NHS trust. So, we really have waited a long time to get to this decision. Indeed, we’ll have waited even longer by the time it does finally open in 2022. So, first of all, can I ask why has it taken so long to get to this point, given the level of support from clinicians and the public? I do appreciate that a number of ducks have had to be got into a certain row for us to get to this point, but it has been an inordinate length of time. Currently, services at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall are creaking under the strain of the demands being placed upon them. We’re all having complaints from constituents about this state of affairs, but reform of these hospital services—and I’ve had to tell my constituents this—has been dependent on waiting for the critical care centre to be developed so that pressure can be relieved. So, it’s been a question of getting the horse before the cart in that sense.

Back in those meetings 10 years ago, I remember being told that the redevelopment of Nevill Hall was 10 years down the line, behind the development of the critical care centre. Well, we’re actually beyond the point now at which Nevill Hall was supposed to be redeveloped, so can you update us on the timescale for the redevelopment of Nevill Hall and the Royal Gwent? I don’t mean a firm timescale, but can you at least give us an indication of when you think that those hospitals, or general hospital replacement, will be coming online? Will this not happen fully until the transfer of services in 2022 or do you anticipate a phased transition to the new site and a phased decommissioning of services at other hospitals, with capacity being released as we go along the way, or do you see that everything will simply happen after 2022?

Although there’s been overwhelming backing for the scheme, it is, true to say, a fair distance from south Powys to Abergavenny and it’s clearly considerably further to the Llanfrechfa Grange site in Cwmbran. So, what reassurances can you give the people of north Monmouthshire and south Powys that these increased journey times will not cause too many problems, and what modelling has been done for ambulance journey times? It’s less of an issue for me in my constituency, but I know in Kirsty Williams’s constituency in Brecon and Radnor that there has been a concern about the extension of journey times to the new centre. So, what work has been done in this area?

We are now faced with another five or six years before the new centre opens. What certainty is there for recruitment during that time? This has been raised already by Rhun ap Iorwerth. Are those being recruited into the NHS being made aware of these changes? We need to allay any uncertainties during the transition phase.

I do agree with your comment, Cabinet Secretary, that this is about creating an integrated, efficient NHS, with one hub dealing with the most complex emergency treatments, freeing up capacity across the rest of the health board area for better primary care. In reference to the concerns about public transport, Cwmbran is not so way off the public transport network that I think that that will cause massive problems—there are many good bus services and train services to that area. Of course, the whole point of the critical care centre is it’s not going to be a general hospital where people are generally dropping in by car; it is going to be something that is visited by people in ambulances after their involvement in serious accidents—people with serious conditions. So, I don’t think that that is such an issue as it would be for a general hospital, but nonetheless I’m pleased that you did address that earlier.

Gwent Clinical Futures was dependent not just on this new centre, but also high-quality community services. I remember looking at a diagram with a pyramid. You had the triple care centre at the top and you had primary care in the middle and you had community services at the bottom. Back then, clinicians were very clear that this new system would only work if those community services at the bottom of the pyramid were brought online at the same time. You seem to indicate in your statement that you’re confident with the level of progress, the rate of progress, you made in developing those community services. Can you give us an assurance that when we get to 2021, 2022—whenever that final opening date is—that all of this will work together as an integrated, cohesive NHS in south-east Wales, and there won’t be any surprise at that point with a lack of capacity that hasn’t been anticipated at this point in time? Thank you.