Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:10 pm on 31 January 2018.
Cabinet Secretary, I welcome the 111 approach in south-west Wales because, clearly, that is one way of choosing well, making sure we get the right choices and avoiding going to a GP out-of-hours unnecessarily. But we also need the GP out-of-hours with certain things that are necessary. As such, I'm aware that there are challenges facing these services because GPs aren't coming forward to take on those practices. In my own area, Neath Port Talbot, there's a very serious concern about some of the sessions being covered by GPs and the lack of them coming forward. What is the Welsh Government going to do to ensure that we don't lose that service in the locality? Because the Afan valley people, having to go to a GP— if they end up having to go to Morriston, it's a very long way and they're unlikely to go there by themselves: they end up calling an ambulance. It's not the right way we should be doing it. We should be making sure that the local GP out-of-hours is there for them, in that locality, if needed.