5. Will the Minister make a statement on actions the Welsh Government is taking to improve community health services? OAQ54184

Yes. The Welsh Government has published 'A Healthier Wales', which sets out our vision and action plan for seamless, sustainable and accessible health and well-being services in our communities.

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?

That's part of what lies at the heart of our joint approach in 'A Healthier Wales', across health and social care. And if you look at the areas of the transformation fund projects within Aberavon and more broadly, not just in the county of Neath Port Talbot, but across Swansea and Neath Port Talbot as well, you'll see the Our Neighbourhood approach, which is about building on community assets, understanding what is there already to help support people to make different choices. That's not just about the health service; it's about all the different assets within a neighbourhood. That's being led within the Neath Port Talbot part of the health board and regional partnership board are. But also, all of the seven primary care clusters are working together on a whole-system approach. So it is about positively looking and how they understand what they could and should do differently—not just GPs, not just the multidisciplinary team grouped around each of the practices, but the other community services that exist. 

On the general point, I'd be happy, as we're going to look through progress within the transformation fund, to consider a visit to one of those clusters in your patch to see the work they're actually doing on the ground. 

I was very interested in what you had to say then about community assets, Minister. Your dementia action plan for 2018-22 states that the Welsh Government will get local authorities and health boards to work with local communities and the third sector organisations in them to encourage them to make services accessible to people with dementia, as well as their families and their carers. Can you just confirm that health boards and councils are doing that in my region, and how, at this stage, services look different for families affected by dementia?

Well, we've had regular conversations, and I'll be reporting back on the implementation of the dementia strategy. I was at the recent cross-party group as well, and my officials attend that too, to be able to set out what's working. So, that investment will be happening over time, and a new framework will be coming out on allied healthcare professionals, as one of the big parts of the plan is the role of allied healthcare professionals in delivering services and linking people together. So, I think you will see progress being made in every part of the country, not just in the Swansea Bay University Health Board area, together with its local authority partners. And, of course, we've got an assurance group that includes people living with dementia themselves, to confirm whether those services are being delivered progressively and whether they're seeing that difference on the ground.

John Griffiths. 

I haven't got a supplementary on this, Llywydd. 

Okay. Question 6, [OAQ54146], has been withdrawn. Question 7, Mick Antoniw.