Part of 3. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 3:08 pm on 1 March 2017.
I don’t think it would actually be helpful to try and say that we’ll start to collect data for GP waiting times and appointments. You’d need to construct a significant system to do so, and I’m not at all persuaded that that would be the right thing to do to improve patient access. We have a range of different ways of trying to look at improving patient access, including, actually, peer-to-peer conversations between primary care operators who understand what best practice looks like, and the impact that that has had both for the staff within the service as well as for the citizens that they serve. I’m happy to look at alternative ways to improve practice, whether the ideas come from other parties or, indeed, the conversations that we continue to have with the British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners about the reality of the position that they face in caring for our patients up and down the country. The tragic case you mentioned is an individual instance that I do not think it would be reasonable to try and posit as an illustrative example of the reality of care that is provided up and down our country. It is a tragic case, and I look forward to seeing the outcome of the coroner’s inquest into what took place.