Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:44 pm on 25 April 2018.
Thank you for the follow-up question. I do think it really is unfortunate that you recast my words in a way that have absolutely not been provided. I'm not blaming the patient for being sick or inconvenient to the health service. It is a fact, though, that over half of the operations that are cancelled are cancelled by the patient. We need to understand why that is, to understand how we can help patients to plan what they wish to do and to understand the impact on the service. In addition to that, we need to deal with those matters that are in control of the service as well. I think I'm pretty clear in stating that, both in writing and on each occasion when questions are asked. Part of that is actually the challenge about beds, and not just the numbers but the numbers of staff you need to staff beds, but also the bed mix and where that is, because actually it's about having appropriate beds for step-up and step-down through the hospital system, and that may be about the rehabilitation focus to get people out of an acute hospital.
But we have seen a significant increase in efficiency through the service already. There is a significant increase in day surgery rates within the national health service in Wales. It's why we're able to be more efficient in actually undertaking a greater amount of surgery than ever before. But, in particular, it is about the planning of that activity through the whole year. Part of that challenge, honestly, is that, in the last quarter of each year—from January to March—we plan too much activity. We're not able to frontload that activity through spring and the summer, and that's part of the challenge that I set for the health service again this year: to do even more of that activity that can be planned and delivered in the summer months. Trying to deliver the greatest amount of activity between January and March obviously leaves a risk, and we saw that this year, where there were significant weather events, and that has affected not just the unscheduled care part of the system but the planned care part of it as well. That is absolutely part of our challenge. The health service understands that, I understand that, and I expect to see significant improvement within the first six months of this new financial year.