3. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Update on the Dementia Action Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:40 pm on 14 May 2019.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:40, 14 May 2019

Yes, I'm happy to give the commitment that you asked for at the end about making sure that we do continue to take forward the commitments that have been made, and in particular the point about first language provision, because as I said in answer to Dai Lloyd, this is not a preference, it's a care need, because actually you can't access the care that you need if you don't have the ability to communicate in what sometimes is the only language available to you. So, I'm more than happy to restate that commitment.

On your point about DEEP, they were definitely involved and a really important part of us getting to having a dementia action plan in the first place, and actually getting one signed off where there was an agreement that it was the right thing to do to move forward. We listened about making sure that there were people involved on the oversight, implementation and impact group. And it's important that we don't just say that means everything is sorted. People living with dementia are represented by a handful of people in one group. That comes back to the point about generally having teams around the individuals so that our services are genuinely responding to the needs of people and proactively seeking the views of those people as we develop and deliver services. That is central to our ambitions in the plan.

And that's partly why—and I'll come back to your first point now about evaluations, to understand is that really is happening. So, yes, I can confirm there will be independent evaluation, it will be commencing throughout this year and it will continue until the end of the plan. There will be an initial assessment of evidence and data availability to highlight any key gaps we may have and a final draft report on central elements will be delivered by the end of 2021, with a final evaluation report that is currently due to be provided in Spring 2022. So, we are definitely making sure that the independent evaluation understands the impact of the steps that we're taking. 

On your second point that you made about leadership within and outside the Government, I have an open mind about whether there should be an identified dementia champion or not. Because actually this is a big service challenge that is in more than one area. I recognise the argument about having a champion and I recognise how actually that may not deliver all we'd want to do. So, I have a genuine open mind. I don't think it would be fair to say that the allied health professionals consultant is effectively going to be the champion. They'll have a role, obviously, in championing the needs of the service and understanding and listening to people, but I do have an open mind about whether an identified champion or champions could help us to make more progress. That will come from listening to people and services on that oversight and impact group as to whether that would be the right thing to do to help drive forward this agenda. So, an open mind—certainly not closed to it—but I'm interested genuinely in what will make the biggest difference in the most rapid period of time.