Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 19 September 2018.
Yes, you're right to point out the role of allied health professionals and frequently in our debates about health in this place, we talk about doctors, and maybe nurses, and we ignore lots of the other healthcare professionals who are important in making the whole system work. And in this area, early rehabilitation, it is that earlier access to a range of different therapists that makes the biggest difference to getting people back into their own homes and the earliest possible recovery. And actually, Aneurin Bevan have a good record in this area of the improvement they've made.
The latest audit report suggests that they have twice the average of the audit of those people when they have completed their six-month follow-up. So, not just getting people out and mobilised early and back into their own homes, but the follow-up plan for after they've returned to their own homes too. And we have about 70 per cent compliance with the timescale to have their rehab goals agreed within five days, and that's much better than a range of other units across the UK. So, this is a health board that is looking forward, is looking at further improvements being made and is absolutely, as you made the point, thinking about those other allied health professionals and their crucial role in having effective recovery and rehabilitation.