Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:02 pm on 13 March 2019.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 3:02, 13 March 2019

I am, Llywydd, encouraged to a certain extent by what the Minister says there, but he does use the phrase 'talk about', and I think we need to refer to what is actually happening  now. From April, our local health boards will be responsible for an unprecedented amount of public funds in Wales, and I think there's nobody in this Chamber that would disagree with the need to invest. Now, other public sector bodies will be looking on with envy at those resources that are available, despite the fact that other public sector bodies, as the Minister has said himself in response to other questions this afternoon, have key roles in supporting the health of the people of Wales. Those public bodies will be entitled to ask us, I think, whether such money is really being used to push the stated national strategic objectives. Now, one of these objectives is to shift services from secondary care to primary care and, again, I think that has broad support across this Chamber.

But we need to look at what the actual spending has been over the last five years, and we've seen local health boards continue to do the opposite. Spending on primary care has increased in cash terms by £74 million, but that, of course, over the five years is a real-terms cut. Spending on secondary care has swallowed up the vast majority of the increases, getting around £845 million extra. Now, this is a clear illustration to me of local health boards failing to move resources and services from hospitals into communities, despite that being a clear Welsh Government priority. We see that also in increases in staff numbers, a very small rise in hospital doctors, but offset by the fall in the number of GPs. Can you explain to us, Minister, why you are allowing local health boards to disregard your stated policies in this regard?