4. Will the Minister provide an update on GP services in South Wales Central? OAQ53339

'A Healthier Wales' sets out our vision for healthcare services and the primary care model for Wales is instrumental to delivering our aims for general practice. We are working with NHS Wales and representative bodies to continue to improve the delivery of services to the people of South Wales Central.

Thank you, Minister, for that answer. One of the biggest frustrations many patients have when trying to access GP services is actually making that first phone call to get an appointment with the GP. A constituent of mine—a Mr Owen Smith from Pontypridd, who I think you know—recently took to his Twitter account to highlight how he'd rung his GP surgery 300 times over the last five weeks. In his words, the appointments were sold out by 08:35 on each occasion. This isn't isolated to Owen Smith; this is across the South Wales Central area, where many patients struggle to get an appointment. What confidence can you give us that your department is putting energy into making more accessible the appointment system at GP surgeries so that patients who need those appointments can get them, and we don't get the rants that we saw off Owen Smith on Twitter, which highlights many of the frustrations that other constituents who don't have access to Twitter or social media feel on a day-to-day basis? 

Well, I'm not sure the person you refer to has given you permission to highlight his own personal experience in the way you do, but there is—[Interruption.] 

It's public information. It's on Twitter.

The characterisation you provide I don't think is entirely fair, but I do recognise the variance in experience between practices, and it's something that comes up regularly in postbags. If you look at the national survey for Wales, it recognises a decline in satisfaction in having access to local healthcare. So, there is a real challenge. It's a challenge that was recognised both by the general practitioners committee of the BMA and the Government and the broader health service as well. It's part of the conversation. It's about contract reform. It's also part of what we're trying to get through in the new model for primary care. When we talk of the new model, it's a recognition that, actually, access is a really important part of that. And it doesn't come because I sat down in my office and decided I believe that 'telephone first' is the way to go; actually, that directly comes from a programme of activity run by GPs themselves and it's driven by those GPs that have resolved the challenges that a range of people complain about and the ability to have an appointment with the right healthcare professional. It is partly about people recognising where they can go if it isn't a general practitioner, but it is also then about being able to talk to someone about the challenge in a reasonable period of time. I recognise that this will continue to be a point of discussion with general practitioners—not just with the Government and the wider health service, but actually between general practitioners themselves, because some GPs are evangelists for a new system of 'telephone first' and others are deeply sceptical and dismissive of it. So, there's a real job of work to persuade GPs that, actually, it's about delivering a better job for them, but ultimately a better service for the public.