Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services — Postponed from 8 November – in the Senedd at 2:46 pm on 15 November 2017.

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Photo of Suzy Davies Suzy Davies Conservative 2:46, 15 November 2017

Thank you for that answer. Of course, I understand the rationale behind it. I'm hoping at some point that you'll be able to give perhaps some guidance to Bridgend County Borough Council in this sort of hiatus to ensure that progress on social care isn't jeopardised in any way, because they have been making progress there.

Just finally, we're all aware, of course, of the pressures on the numbers, because of the number of GPs that we don't have in Wales. Earlier this month, the out-of-hours service in Bridgend was closed for certain periods over two nights because there was no local GP to offer the service. During that period, 33 patients from Bridgend contacted the service and had to be referred to the Morriston helpline instead, which ended up advising four admissions to an accident and emergency department. How much of an issue is it for GPs that they're having to provide out-of-hours cover locally as well as doing their day job? Does it affect where they choose to practice?