Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:57 pm on 31 January 2018.
I should start by saying it was remiss of me not to thank NWIS staff who worked hard to resolve the technical issue last week and to make sure the disruption was not more widespread, and, indeed, as I say, it was resolved within the day.
On EMIS and the issue of systems to support GPs, I recognise it's a challenge because a significant number of GPs currently use one of those systems. I can't go into the full reasons for it because there's a period of legal challenge and so I can't make a full statement until that point in time. But Members, I'm sure, will be interested to know that the British Medical Association have issued a very brief statement, because the general practitioners committee of the BMA were engaged in the discussions about the future tendering, and they themselves have said that they recognise that, whilst it's difficult, they think the right choice has been made because minimum standards have to be met within the contract process. But I think it will be towards the end of next week or the start of the week thereafter when the legal challenge process will be over and, if there is no challenge, a fuller statement can be made.