2. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on how the Welsh Government aims to provide the health services that the people of Wales need in light of current economic challenges? OAQ(5)0172(HWS)

Thank you for the question. As a direct result of the UK Government’s commitment to austerity, the Welsh Government budget will be 9 per cent lower in real terms by the end of the decade. Despite the cuts imposed upon us, the Welsh Government continues to invest in NHS Wales. That means that in the first two years of this Government, we will have invested over £0.5 billion of additional funding into NHS Wales.

That’s very good to hear, but it’s also worth, I think, underlining the point that it’s not just economic challenges that the NHS is facing; there are particular problems in terms of recruitment. And, as well as in parts of England, there are particular problems in rural Wales in terms of recruitment, where, for example, the Hywel Dda health board have committed to revert to 12-hour consultant coverage at the paediatric ambulatory care unit in Withybush, once they’ve managed to strengthen their clinical team. The problem is that the Royal College of Paediatricians have suggested that 41 per cent of neonatal clinics across the whole of the UK had to be temporarily closed in the past year because of recruitment difficulties, and Withybush is fishing in the same pool for those experts.

I just wondered how we’re going to address that issue, and can you confirm that, in an emergency, Withybush accident and emergency can deal with paediatric cases?

Thank you for the question. On the final point, it continues to be my understanding there is paediatric capability within the A&E to properly meet the needs of patients who do require treatment in an emergency.

Look, there’s a broader challenge here that you’re quite right to highlight about our ability to recruit and the particular shortages in some areas, where they are UK-wide problems and more than that—right across western Europe there are challenges in some areas of recruitment. So, that’s part of the honest challenge we have to take on board on actually improving but reforming the way our health service works in the future. That’s why having attractive models of care organised across the community, and, where necessary, in a hospital, really do matter. If we’re going to recruit the best people, if we’re going to recruit people into these shortage professions, we need to have an attractive place to work.

And, for all the significant success that we’ve had in the first phase of ‘Train. Work. Live.’ for recruiting doctors—a significant move forward for Wales—we recognise there is more for us to do and that campaign in itself won’t get us over some of these speciality areas. So, thinking very clearly and carefully about the future of the service, how it’s organised, who we want to attract, and the terms on which we ask people to work, who they actually work with, are really important for the future in a whole range of different areas.

In March, Cabinet Secretary, the community and children’s Secretary said that good, secure housing not only reduces the burden on other services, such as the NHS or social care, but it will also improve the quality of life for people, and I think none of us would disagree with that. However, I would go a little further and say that housing that’s designed to be easily adaptable, perhaps designed with the guidance of rehabilitation experts, is also important, as it allows older people to stay in their properties for longer without having to move out of an area that they’re familiar with, for example. So, can you tell me what kind of cross-portfolio conversations have you been having about preparing guidance for the construction industry, not least those who are building council properties, that will anticipate changes in people’s lives because of health and old age and that will actually make it cheaper for them to adapt and to receive rehabilitation in their homes in the future?

Thank you for the question. I’m pleased to confirm that the investment that the Welsh Government has made in improving the quality of people’s homes, in particular making them more energy efficient, has had a real benefit in both financial terms, but also in health outcomes as well. There’s developing evidence there are better health outcomes for those people as a direct result of that Welsh Government intervention.

And, in terms of the point about not just adaptation, but about the sort of housing that we commission in our use of capital, I’ve had direct conversations with the Cabinet Secretary for communities about the way in which capital is used. And it needs to be a part of a developing theme of this Government to make sure we don’t just meet our targets on house building, but that the sort of housing that we build, the way in which local authorities and health boards commission care, and what provision they’re looking for, is properly taken account of by house builders, and, in particular, the registered social landlords sector, but more widely as well. And I’m confident you will see more progress and a more joined-up approach from this Government. I’m sure I’ll have more to say on this in the coming months.