4. 4. Statement: The National Planned Care Programme

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:11 pm on 10 October 2017.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 4:11, 10 October 2017

We obviously have to get citizens more involved in looking after themselves rather than clogging up our GP surgeries with sore throats, for example, when they could easily self-medicate.

But I just wanted to speak about the visits that I had with you to Pearce and Bowler Opticians in Pentwyn, where Clare Pearce and Francesca Bowler have piloted a real-time imaging connection with the Health hospital to enable the consultant in the hospital to instantly see the patient’s eye, who may or may not have a macular disorder, which might need urgent treatment, or maybe not. That seems to be a fantastic innovation that enables more people not to have to go to hospital unless it’s absolutely necessary. We want people to be going to hospital because they’ve got a life-threatening condition that needs to be treated immediately. So, I think that was a fantastic example of innovation that we could be pushing forward on, I hope, in other parts of Wales.

Tomorrow is World Obesity Day and I’m horrified to read that adult obesity is going to go up from 27 per cent to 34 per cent if we do nothing about it, and we clearly need to change the conversation with citizens if we are going to prevent the collapse of our health service, which is under pressure from increases in cancers and diabetes and other conditions that are related to obesity.

I welcome the virtual review that’s gone on of hip and knee appointments, which has reduced massively the numbers of people who need to be seen by a consultant. When there was a flurry of activity around excessive waiting times for operations just before the end of recess, it was obvious to me that Cwm Taf had consistently not had a problem over several years, so I wondered how the Cabinet Secretary is ensuring that best practice, which appears to be present in Cwm Taf, is being rolled out across the rest of the health boards to ensure that we’re doing the right thing to ensure that people aren’t waiting longer than they need to, and that we’re eliminating unnecessary consultations from the system.