Part of 3. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 3:05 pm on 1 March 2017.
I think that’s a very odd way to try and pose a question about a serious issue for the health service and for everyone who works within it. This is a real and serious issue for people who require care, in particular during the winter period, when we know that more older people are more likely to need admission into a hospital for care, and more older people need support in their own home. It’s not about breathing a sigh of relief; it’s looking at where we are as a whole system. Where we recognise there’s a need for further improvement—and not just in A&E, but the points we’ve made previously about anticipatory care that you’ll be familiar with in your own constituency, with the advance care work that is taking place in Ynys Môn, but also about the delayed transfers of care as well. As we’ve seen from the last figures, we’ve made improvement and there’s room for further improvement, as the whole system needs to work together, health and social care. It’s not about a sigh of relief; it’s about saying, ‘Where are we now? What more can we do, and is that system resilient?’ The system is coping, but it is a very real struggle. We see it in the staff, we see it in the people needing care, and I expect and I want to see further improvement made over the course of the year, and to get ready for next winter as well.