3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on waiting times in the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area? OAQ(5)0179(HWS)

Thank you for the question. Waiting times across Aneurin Bevan health board in general terms have improved across almost all main measures in the last year. For example, referral-to-treatment times have improved to 90.5 per cent at the end of March this year, over 80 per cent of red ambulance calls were responded to in April 2017 within target, and the most recent 62-day cancer performance was 92 per cent. But, naturally, I expect the health board to plan and deliver further improvements.

I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his answer. Recently, a constituent came to see me who’d been waiting an unacceptably long time on a waiting list for cardiology care. I noticed upon further inspection that the maximum waiting time in cardiology in Aneurin Bevan has increased from 34 weeks, I believe, in 2011, to 105-plus weeks last year. So, given the seriousness of conditions that require cardiology services, can you update us on interventions that you’re considering taking to bring down waiting lists for these very serious conditions?

Well, this is part of what we expect health boards to plan and deliver to understand what they’re currently doing and where it’s not actually delivering an acceptable level of care, and, where waiting times are important, as I accept they certainly are on a range of conditions, how they plan to deliver and improve those, whether that’s by commissioning services from other health boards and other areas or actually thinking about how they do them. Actually, in cardiology, the successful role of community cardiology—actually piloted in the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg health board area—has been shown to improve waiting times for people in secondary care cardiology, because people are getting a different service that is actually appropriate for them in a primary care setting, and that means people that really do need to see a consultant in a secondary care setting are more likely to be seen more quickly. So, there are ongoing initiatives, but I’ll happily write to you with more detail on what’s happening in the Aneurin Bevan health board area.

What impact does the Cabinet Secretary expect the specialist and critical care centre to have on waiting times over the medium term and can he confirm when building of this will start and when he expects it to actually open for patients?

I look forward to attending the turf-cutting for the currently referred to specialist and critical care centre during the summer, so building work is starting. I’ve already indicated in one of my previous statements that I expect it to be open, I think, in 2021. In terms of its impact on waiting times, I’m rather more interested in its impact on the whole system and what it means in terms of delivering greater quality of care. I think this is part of our challenge. We’re talking about quality of care in the national health service. We often get stuck talking about volume and time, and, actually, that is not always the best metric of improvement and what quality looks like. I certainly expect that the new hospital will be part of a high-performing health board in Wales terms, to continue to deliver and to improve the quality of its care on a range of measures, including elective care and unscheduled care. But, of course, there will still be roles for other hospitals within the wider Gwent area, as well as our long-stated ambition to see more care provided in the primary care setting, in any event.