Part of 3. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 3:17 pm on 19 July 2017.
Well, I don’t share the points that you make, and I think we could either have a conversation where we’ll continue to talk about how we deliver more medical education and training, and more healthcare professionals in every part of the country that needs them—north Wales, mid and west Wales and south Wales, too—or we could go through a rather formulaic, ‘You are responsible, it’s all your fault and I’m disappointed’. I don’t think that gets us very far. I’m happy to have a row if there’s a need to have a row, but I don’t think this is the area to do that. I actually think that the decision that we made yesterday was based on a proper evidence base about the right thing to do. I am concerned about our ability to recruit, retain, and attract people to work within the health service in Wales. That’s why the incentives, for example, on GP training in north-west and north-east Wales—we’ve filled those areas that were hard to recruit to previously. So, I do take seriously the whole model of care that we provide, but I don’t share the tone or the content of the remarks you make. I’m committed to delivering a proper health—[Interruption.]—a proper health service for communities right across Wales, including north Wales, and I resent the implication and accusation that I do not care about one part of Wales.