7. Debate on the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee's report on Primary Care Clusters

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:08 pm on 17 January 2018.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 5:08, 17 January 2018

(Translated)

Certainly, I learnt a great deal during this inquiry. I have experience in my constituency as an Assembly Member for Ynys Môn of seeing a cluster at work—a very effective cluster as I understand it. I've sat in on cluster meetings and have seen the multidisciplinary work coming together in a way that I believe was very effective on behalf of my constituents in Ynys Môn.

But I've also learnt in this inquiry that a cluster can mean something very, very different in different parts of Wales, depending on everything from geography to the size of individual GP surgeries, to the kind of correlation between different elements of the multidisciplinary teams—depending on personalities even, and depending on people's attitudes towards clusters and what their purpose was. We've heard from people who were seeing the cluster as something that was genuinely there to bring a team together. We've seen federalisation happening as a further step. We've heard of others seeing clusters as a mechanism just to draw in additional funding for a particular project.

So, if we look at the first recommendation, I think that that summarises, possibly, the major intention of what we discussed, which is the need for clarity with regard to what exactly a cluster is:

'The Welsh Government should publish a refreshed model for primary care clusters'  and that the model needs to be clear. I'm looking forward to seeing how that will be implemented by the Government.