Community Health Services

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:46 pm on 3 July 2019.

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Photo of David Rees David Rees Labour 2:46, 3 July 2019

Well, thank you for that answer, Minister, and I appreciate and applaud the actions that the Welsh Government are taking to actually help people to go back into their homes and back into their communities, because we all know that you can get better in your home if you feel more comfortable, but you have to be safe and you have to be supported. And to do that, you need several things. You've already mentioned community pharmacies as an example of community healthcare services, but there are many others, and resourcing those is one of the issues. We need to ensure that those services are resourced so that, when people do go back, they're able to be supported. 

Now, on many occasions I've had situations where district nurses and community nurses are struggling to face some of the workloads they have, and that then is on top of, perhaps, practices and GP practices merging and having difficulties. Now, you're welcome to come up to the Afan valley to see some of the challenges they are facing in that community, both in GP services and in community services, but what are you going to do to ensure that those services are resourced when there are challenges with GP services as well, so that we don't have one part of the service failing and another part then trying to catch up and deliver what it shouldn't be doing?