6. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: The National Health Service (Indemnities) (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:54 pm on 15 October 2019.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 4:54, 15 October 2019

I'll deal with your last point first, and that is: we're trying to resolve issues that exist in the here and now, or will exist from the start of April, with this piece of legislation. I'm happy to have a fuller conversation with him about the significant shift he outlined in 'no fault' compensation. I recall you raising it previously in the Chamber in the past, and I think it is something that we should talk about properly, rather than trying to give a one-off and for-all-time answer now, but it would require a significant shift in culture in the way that we deal with these matters already, not just in Wales but across the UK.

On your point about the costs, of course, the reason why we're doing this is we've recognised for some time that the rising costs of indemnity cover have been a significant deterrent to people entering and remaining within general practice, whether that's, if you like, the regular general practitioner working in a surgery, people who work part-time hours—there's a variety of different reasons why people want to work part-time hours, from people at different points in their career, men and women with caring responsibilities, as well as people who want to come back and reduce their sessions at different points in their careers, and, indeed, out-of-hours as well. We've put moneys into the contract but, actually, we weren't getting to what was going to be sustainable, so that's why we've taken this particular point of view. And it is, you're right—the technical term, I think, is a 'current-based cover', so it's about when something has occurred, and, as long as someone has been a member with proper professional indemnity cover with a participating medical defence organisation, then we will stand behind them. 

In terms of the costs, that comes from—funding will be from an asset transfer negotiation with MDOs and Welsh Government funding, as, obviously, the state stands behind this to give people the assurance that moneys will be paid. I'm sure we'll go through this in more detail as we go through the Bill, but I hope that provides some assurance about the costs, how they're going to be dealt with in terms of the Welsh Government and our assessment of the liabilities, but also to make sure that there is proper cover for GPs and the wider public.