I’d like to thank the clerks, the health committee and the Research Service for their assistance during our inquiry. I would also like to thank all those who gave evidence to us during the course of our inquiry. Over the course of our inquiry, the majority of stakeholders told us that, while things were slightly better this year, they were still unprepared for the winter period and facing year-round pressures. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health told us that services were not quite ready. It is abundantly clear that we need to make substantial changes in order to cope with this additional pressure.

As a committee, we carefully considered the evidence put before us and cross-examined the witnesses before coming up with just nine recommendations. It is therefore disappointing that the Welsh Government were able to fully accept just three of our recommendations. I’m particularly disappointed that the Cabinet Secretary has rejected recommendation 5. Many of the witnesses to our inquiry highlighted the fact that the current service model for unscheduled care is unsustainable. While the Choose Well campaign is a step in the right direction, it is going to take much longer to totally re-educate the Welsh public. It is so ingrained in the public’s mindset that when we get ill we need to see a doctor that convincing people that sometimes a community pharmacy is a much better option is going to take a long time.

When you couple this mindset with the fact that it is getting harder to see a GP because of underfunding and overwork, it is no wonder that people inappropriately turn up at A&E. While this is shouldn’t be the case, we have to face reality. Until we employ more GPs and have better integrated primary care teams, our hospitals are faced with picking up the slack in the system. It was pressures on A&E that led to the creation of minor injury units, and therefore the co-location of primary care services would seem to be a natural progression. Both the BMA and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine suggested that we look at co-location of primary care services and the use of front-door physicians. We should listen to them.

We learnt that up to 30 per cent of those attending A&E would be more appropriately dealt with elsewhere in the health system. We need a better way of dealing with these people. Having a single-point gateway service that can funnel people to the appropriate service is a much better solution than what we currently have and warrants proper investigation.

Cabinet Secretary, I urge you to reconsider. You say that this a matter for health boards, but with the majority of our health boards requiring some form of Government intervention, you need to show leadership. This issue is not going away. We can’t just sit back and hope that we can solve winter pressures with an ad campaign. Our committee carefully considered the evidence put before us and we have suggested solutions based upon that evidence. I would hope that the Welsh Government will heed our report. Diolch yn fawr.