Mortality figures in Welsh emergency departments

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:27 pm on 31 January 2018.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:27, 31 January 2018

We are the only UK country that has a full review of every death that takes place within hospital. There is already learning that deliberately takes place from deaths within hospital. I expect them to have an open and learning culture within our health service, to have a proper commitment to improving the quality and improving outcomes for people. If we are to work in a system where any attempt to have open and transparent publication of data is used in this way, to promote fear—and I do not accept Darren Millar's version of events as representing the view of the clinical community in Ysbyty Glan Clwyd or any other part of the country—then we'll run ourselves into a position where, actually, improvement will not take place at the pace that it could and should do. I take my responsibilities seriously, and I believe our clinicians do as well. And, yes, the results of those reviews are generally made available so we can see the learning that takes place from each of those reviews. And, in fact, other parts of the UK system now wish to learn from what we're doing in Wales to learn properly from every death that takes place in hospital.