Part of 3. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 3:10 pm on 19 July 2017.
I think it should make a real and significant difference in remodelling healthcare right across the Gwent area and beyond. It’s due to open, as you know, in spring 2021, when the Grange university hospital should be open for business. It’s important, in terms of the question that Jayne Bryant asked and the point that you make, to understand that the way in which we deliver services isn’t simply about delivering excellent healthcare—research and innovation have to take place alongside and through that as well. So, I do expect there to be a keen focus on research and innovation when that hospital opens, not just at the point of opening but throughout the period of time, because that is part of attracting and retaining staff there.
So, for example, the moves that have already been made to have a hyperacute stroke unit, currently based in the Royal Gwent—a lot of that is actually about having a different service model that has allowed it to attract, recruit and retain high-quality staff who would not otherwise have come into an old model of care. The research that is already ongoing there should be carried forward within a new model of delivering healthcare as well. So, for me, it’s a key part of what we’re investing in for the future, not just the bricks and the mortar.