8. 7. Debate: ‘The Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care — Interim Report’

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:38 pm on 19 September 2017.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 6:38, 19 September 2017

Well, we don’t disagree about the fact that we want to train more people from Wales in Wales and keep them. We also still need to make sure that the international reality of recruiting healthcare staff is effective in who we get and why. There’s something here about how competitive we are with the rest of the world—the rest of the developed world—still competing for those same staff, and the review gives us an opportunity to recast our system to make it more attractive for people who are already here and those we want to attract in the future. I’m pleased to hear something that Suzy Davies said. She was quoting from the report but actually that sets out the prudent healthcare approach that my immediate predecessor set out in recognising the harm that is caused by some interventions in the service, when some things don’t actually do any good. There’s something here about the conversation with the public to understand that we need to fundamentally recast the way we deliver our service to deliver not just high quality and high value, but actually we could do so much more if we took out that unnecessary intervention.

I just wanted to say something before I finish on the comments that have been helpfully made about citizen voice and personal responsibility. I was interested to hear about Jenny’s conversation that she would have had in the Maelfa about the future of local healthcare and about people being properly engaged now about making choices and the level of pragmatism that many of our communities have about what they want and why. And this report gives us a staging post to try and continue that conversation about personal responsibility. So, what is the deal from the health and care system’s point of view? What will we provide? And then, what do we expect the citizen to do and how do we empower them to make more of their own choices? Because, typically, citizens who make their own choices—active choices—tend to make better ones, and it’s really important for the future health of our nation that that isn’t something that we allow to happen by accident. It’s something that we want to encourage positively, and that’s why the review has such an important function.

I’ll come to a conclusion now, Presiding Officer, because I see I’ve only got about 30 seconds left. I really do look forward to the independent review’s final report and the debates that we will then have to have, but also the choices that we will then have to make—difficult but necessary choices about our future. I do remain optimistic about our willingness to choose a plan path for the future. Because it isn’t just that the alternatives are awful if we allow things to happen to us, but there’s a real prize for all of us to grasp by having a system that we choose to design and deliver and really take forward the high-quality system that all of us wish to have now and in the future in every community in Wales.