3. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services: The Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care in Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:34 pm on 16 January 2018.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 3:34, 16 January 2018

I'd also like to place on record my thanks to Ruth Hussey and her team for the way they conducted this review. And I think it has been a very timely look at the state of health and social care in Wales. I would say that, in that Plaid Cymru pushed the agenda on having this parliamentary review, and we've been only too pleased to play our part in being part of a discussion panel, every now and then, as the work progressed, to get to the point where we have now this report, which is food for thought. And I'll keep my questions fairly brief. I won't ask a long list of questions today, because I think the publication of this parliamentary review report is the start of a process. Now that we have the fruits of the labour of Ruth Hussey and her team, we have things and yardsticks that we can hold to Government to see how Government responds.

I think the central strength of what we have here is that statement in this report that we do not have a vision for the future of health and social care in Wales. And it's not overly egging a political point in saying that it is implicit, in that that there's an indictment of a governing party that has controlled the NHS in Wales for the best part of 19 years and still we don't have a vision. The urgency is shown in the timescale that Ruth Hussey wants to see the Government responding in. She wants to see now a consultation and a vision being published within a matter of three months.

So, the first question is: could you give us an idea of the level of consultation that Government will engage in in order to bring forth that vision? There are some specific elements where Ruth Hussey says she would like to see the patient voice being heard much clearer in decisions on the future of healthcare. The second question: how does that and the idea that the patient experience must be measured very, very well and carefully tally with proposals that Government has made on the abolition of community health councils, which is the body that measures patient experience specifically? Will you, therefore, put those plans on the shelf, because we have in this report a clear, clear suggestion that patient experience must still be measured in future? 

On workforce, I will make the comment that whilst here we have a call for a new vision, that new vision will involve implementing things that many of us have long called for, for example, making sure that we train adequately enough doctors. Therefore, I'd be interested in your comments on whether you now will be accelerating moves, for example, towards the establishment of a medical training centre in Bangor, because we have in this report emphasis on the need to make sure we have adequate and well-trained workers.

On money, yes, the financing of the NHS was not part of the remit, but I do remember Plaid Cymru being ridiculed before the last election for suggesting that £300 million-worth of savings, if you like, could be made through better use of technology and innovation within the NHS in order to re-invest in spending that money better within the health service. So, I'd be interested in your comments on that. 

So, this is a starting point, and I look forward to being told also by Government how we can measure whether Government is succeeding in responding to this important report. What will be the measure of success?