<p>The Availability of Common Ailment Schemes (South Wales Central)</p>

Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 2:47 pm on 7 December 2016.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:47, 7 December 2016

I agree. That’s why this Government is committed to working with the health boards to ensure that at least half of pharmacies in Wales do deliver the common ailments scheme. We’ll then have broader coverage. Cardiff and Vale is not currently delivering the scheme, but it will be, over the next financial year, rolled out within the area. And I recognise exactly the point you make. It’s what was in our manifesto and it’s in our programme for government to make sure that we do deliver more services through community pharmacies, to free up GPs’ workloads and GPs’ time. We estimate that up to 18 per cent of GPs’ workloads and 8 per cent of emergency department consultations are for relatively minor ailments. I’m sure you’ll recall that, when we launched the scheme, I attended a pharmacy, a Sheppards pharmacy, and I managed to have conjunctivitis, coincidentally, at the time. Again, a common ailment that some people do go to their GP for when they don’t need to; it’s perfectly treatable within a community pharmacy setting. What’s been important, though, has been the sharing of a version of the GP record to allow the scheme to go ahead. There’s much more potential than just common ailments in that sharing of the record, and I’m genuinely excited and encouraged about where we are with community pharmacies in Wales and what more we can do within the health service.