1. Will the Minister make a statement on access to GPs in Blaenau Gwent? OAQ53765

Yes. Thank you for the question. We want to see sustainable and accessible GP services across Wales, including, of course, in Blaenau Gwent. GP practices are using components of the newly established primary care model to improve the way that they provide services with, and for, patients.

Minister, it was a real pleasure to welcome you to Blaenau Gwent some months ago, where we discussed the access to GP services in and throughout the borough. You'll be aware, as well, that the Welsh Government has helped to invest in a new well-being centre in Brynmawr. I think nearly £4 million has been invested in improving the facilities available to the people of Brynmawr and the upper Ebbw Fach valley, but since the opening of the new centre, I've had literally hundreds of people contacting me, talking about how difficult it is to access the services in the well-being centre. I'm sure you share the frustration of people in Brynmawr and myself and elsewhere that we invest in fantastic new facilities to improve the healthcare infrastructure in Brynmawr and then people find it difficult to access services within those facilities. What do you say to those people who see this wonderful new facility but are enormously frustrated being unable to get an appointment to see a GP or other healthcare professionals?

Well, I'd say that we recognise that access is one of the key priorities for the public when it comes to the national health service and local health services in particular. It's the largest issue of concern in the National Survey for Wales and it's grown as an issue. That's why we're determined to make progress on improving access. The investments that we're making in facilities are designed to do that, but it does require change in practice. And everywhere that new access arrangements are made, in particular about triage arrangements, whether by non-clinical staff, nurse led or GP led, there's almost always been a bump in getting over a new way of working for staff, but also for the public to access that service.

I expect, where those new arrangements are introduced, that people inform the public of changes in advance and then listen to what the public are saying about how they access those services, because I do expect everyone to be able to access the right clinicians at the right place and in the right time. And if you haven't had a satisfactory response from the practice manager at the new centre, I'd be more than happy to sit there with you to run through what we can do to try and ensure the improvement we plainly want to see for residents in Blaenau Gwent and Brynmawr.

Aneurin Bevan health board confirmed to me today that of their 398 GPs, only 34 of those are in Blaenau Gwent, and that's 8.5 per cent of the total compared to perhaps the around 12 per cent we'd expect by population. One way they try and tackle this is through the directly employed GPs, and I was pleased to hear that, actually, the majority of those were in Blaenau Gwent, but less pleased to hear that that meant only four out of the seven full-time equivalents.

Does the Minister think that these managed GPs, directly employed by the health boards, could be significantly expanded in number to at least in part address the shortages and difficulties of access to GPs in Blaenau Gwent?

Well, this is a subject that I regularly get asked about in this Chamber, about whether there is a Welsh Government agenda to get rid of the partnership model in general practice, and that is not our intention at all. The great majority of general practice is delivered through the partnership model, the independent contractor model, and the managed practices are there to try and help through to deliver new models of care or to manage a transition, where traditionally, when GPs are retiring, we need to make sure that the service continues, and it is true that no person in Wales has been left without a GP.

So, I see managed practices as part of the future answer, but not a replacement for the independent contractor model. And that is about the conversation with local GPs, and our cluster model has helped to promote that better working between practices, and I think we will continue to see more mergers and federations between practices and a new way of employing GPs, but I still think that the independent contractor model will be the foundation of general practice here in Wales for some time to come.