6. Will the First Minister provide an update on pain management services available to residents in north Powys? OAQ53984

I thank Russell George. Powys Teaching Health Board continues to strengthen pain management services in north Powys. Applications for new specialist posts in nursing and physiotherapy close later this month. The existing multidisciplinary service remains fully National Institute for Health and Care Excellence compliant.   

Thank you, First Minister, for your answer, but I would say I do think that the Welsh Government needs to have a good look at what pain management provision services are being offered across Wales. Can I ask the First Minister what your views are on the Welsh Government developing a fully funded multidisciplinary service, within the NICE guidelines, of course, to offer local services in particular that would prevent people from having to travel long distances?

I thank Russell George for that. He knows, I'm sure, that the reason why there is a particular focus on pain management services in north Powys is because the service across our border at Oswestry closed on 31 March, commissioners there having decided that the service was too fragile to continue. Four hundred Welsh patients were affected, and I wanted to thank Russell George for some of the help that he has provided in making sure that all those patients in that part of Powys who needed to be contacted—that their details have been released by the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt hospital to Powys health board.

But I assure him that the service that is provided by Powys Teaching Health Board, with psychology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and nursing all involved in the pain management service, is fully NICE compliant. It's being expanded in order to take on the new patients who will rely on it in future. It's being developed so that it will, for example, have an increased ability to offer Skype consultations so that people don't have to travel those long distances. We are hopeful of being able to fill those specialist posts in nursing and physiotherapy, which are new and fully funded posts, to be able to expand the service. But, as the Member will know, these are scarce people and they're not always as easy to recruit as we would wish them to be, but the money will not be the barrier to that recruitment.