Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:41 pm on 27 June 2018.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:41, 27 June 2018

We've actually got Health Technology Wales to do just that, Deputy Presiding Officer, in the same way we have the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group to allow us to have faster access to, actually, properly appraising new medicines as well. So, we do have a process that is available to us on new technology as opposed to new medicine. And, with respect, the clinical consensus that we could get on the mpMRI could be delivered in the here and now by the Welsh urology board if they provided that advice to us. If they provided that clinical consensus, we'd have a different place to act.

It's fine for politicians to be persuaded about what they think is right, but, actually, I think to run this significant public service we do need to have proper clinical consensus on the appropriate way forward. We have means to do that already, but I'm always interested if we can improve the way in which we make those choices, because part of my regular frustration—and it is borne out by the parliamentary review and the plan we have—is that changing the way our healthcare system delivers and improves is far too slow. So, that is why the twin aims are to have pace and scale in the change and transformation that we all recognise needs to take place.