4. Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government’s plan for winter preparedness in the Welsh NHS? OAQ(5)0386(FM)

Yes. We continue to support health and social care organisations through our quarterly national seasonal planning meetings to inform the development of their seasonal plans, which include preparedness for the winter period.

Thank you. Well, in 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NICE, published its public health guidance on tackling excess winter deaths, morbidity and the health risks associated with cold homes, outlining a number of recommendations and how health and social care practitioners could reduce the risk of death and ill health associated with fuel poverty and therefore the pressures on the Welsh NHS. Given that Age Cymru said last September that fuel poverty is a significant cause of excess winter deaths, how will your Welsh Government respond to the call from the Fuel Poverty Coalition Cymru for these NICE guidelines to be implemented by your Government in Wales?

Well, look at Nest and look at Arbed; they are schemes that have helped so many people, particularly older people, to actually get homes that are warmer, to ensure they can afford to heat their homes, to have heating systems and boiler systems that are more efficient than they once had and thus keep them out of hospital because they are in homes that are underheated. So we believe we’ve a good record on that, in terms of the money we’ve allocated over the years to help so many people across Wales to live in warmth and to be able to afford their heating bills, and that’s something we’re proud of.

Does the First Minister agree that what the latest figures on accident and emergency waiting times published last week—especially those waiting more than 12 hours—what they show is that it’s a year-round capacity issue that we face with, on average, around 3,000 patients waiting longer than 12 hours month after month, after month, after month? Isn’t that evidence of a systemic problem with the delivery of emergency care in Wales, with excellent staff being asked to deliver the impossible, rather than something that can be blamed on poor weather?

What happens in the winter is that, even though numbers in A&E actually drop, for the people coming in, their conditions tend to be longer term respiratory conditions and they’re older. In the summer, actually, A&E admissions tend to be higher, but they tend to be injuries, for example, which don’t need as much time in A&E. The issues that we face are these: we need to make sure, as we have done, that social care spending is kept high—and it is higher than it is in England. They’re reaping an unfortunate whirlwind in England on that at the moment. It is true to say that the demand is high and I do pay tribute to those who work in the service for the services that they provide. But every consultant in A&E will tell you—and, indeed, it was said again today—that there are too many people going into A&E who don’t need to be there. And so what we say to people is: ‘Go to see the pharmacist, go to see a GP, and there’s out-of-hours GP cover. All these are alternatives—don’t just default to A&E simply because A&E can’t turn you away’. People are triaged when they get to A&E. If people are not urgent cases, then they do wait longer—that is the reality of it; the urgent cases get treated first. So, yes, people need to make their own choices, their own proper choices, and we will continue to make sure that we fund our hospitals and A&E departments to meet a demand that has been increasing at the rate of 7 per cent a year.