Health Services in South Wales Central

Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:08 pm on 17 October 2018.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:08, 17 October 2018

Thank you for the question. I recognise this is a subject that you raised with me very early on after your election, together with the leader of the council, about the need to improve the facilities, and actually that is one of the first benefits to be seen. There will be fit-for-purpose, up-to-date modern facilities to replace what currently exists, and we sometimes understate the importance of the physical environment in a person's experience of care and where they're likely to access care in the first place. There then is that point about better access, because then we can draw together more services in the same place and, in particular, draw health and local government services together to make it easier for people to get to the right service in the right place. That, as we know in other parts of the country, has led to an improvement in the relationships between all of those different professionals. They're able to talk to each other and to understand, if it isn't a health problem that somebody is coming to you with, there is someone—if it's in the same building, it's even better—to understand how you help that person to actually find support for their problem. But that experience and those better services are part of the plan that we'd expect to see. That's why we're investing together money with the local authority on delivering these new facilities. It'll also be important for staff there as well, because we do know, in other parts of your constituency, for example, the different way that those practices are now working with each other has led to a better job by professionals who are more likely to stay. 

And the final thing I'll say on this, Llywydd, is that the development between the health board and local authorities has not just helped in terms of the provision of new facilities; as you'll be aware from the NHS Wales Awards, the big prize on the night went to the Stay Well@home service—the partnership between health and local government to deliver improved care to keep people in their own homes for longer and out of hospital quicker. And there are real markers there within the Cwm Taf area for what the rest of the service needs to do.