Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:57 pm on 6 February 2019.
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?