5. 5. Welsh Conservatives Debate: NHS Winter Preparedness

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:08 pm on 11 January 2017.

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Photo of Angela Burns Angela Burns Conservative 3:08, 11 January 2017

I’m also interested, Cabinet Secretary, in the way that GPs are being consulted and when, when it comes to planning for peaks in demand for services. Do you encourage health boards to bring senior GPs onside at the planning stage, as they will have very different views on what constitutes pressure than hospital staff, because we need to ensure that all parts of our NHS are pulling in the same direction and following the same guidelines and recommendations? And, during the evidence we received, the GPs were very clear in saying they’d not been involved in preparations for winter.

We’ll be fully supporting both of Plaid Cymru’s amendments and, whilst we can support almost all of the Government’s amendments, I do not see the evidence for the statement that you’re investing record levels of funding into the NHS. Statistics that I have show that, this year, the funding is less than 2014-15 and years of underfunding have led to this situation. I am pleased that you are calling on yourselves to provide this status report, which the Welsh Conservatives have asked for because I do think it is only by you, Cabinet Secretary, keeping up the pressure on health boards that we will see any chance of adherence to the plans that so few of the professionals claimed they had part in. I look forward to hearing your response.