6. Will the First Minister outline his priorities for the NHS in north Wales? OAQ54744

I thank the Member for that question. Priorities for the NHS in north Wales reflect those for the whole of our nation, as set out in my answer to an earlier question this afternoon: a move in the direction of prevention, reducing health inequalities, improving primary care, timely access to care services, and further investment in mental health.

I was hoping that one of your priorities might be to deal with the ongoing problems that we've seen since that health board has been put into special measures because, of course, the people of north Wales feel let down by your Government when it comes to our national health service in the region. We have a health board that has been in special measures for four and a half years. Its financial position has deteriorated while it's been in special measures, many of its performance indicators have also deteriorated; people are waiting up to two years for their orthopaedic treatment; we've seen a domino of GP surgeries that have closed since you took charge of special measures in that particular health board; and, of course, we've seen the unpalatable situation of the incompetence of the current leadership having to draft in somebody based overseas who is being paid £2,000 per day—not per week, per day—in order to sort out the problems in that health board because of the lack of quality leadership.

When will people in north Wales see the turnaround that you promised them four and a half years ago and see that health board firing on all pistons so that people can get their treatment in time and get the outcomes that they deserve?

One day, Llywydd, as you know, the Member will find something good to say about the health service on which his constituents rely. Their report on health services in north Wales is so different to his own.

Only last month, the health Minister set out a series of actions that the health board needs to take in order to move on from being in special measures, and we expect the health board to report against those requirements by 13 December. That will show how the health board intends to build on the successes that it has achieved, which it would be good to hear the Member just occasionally acknowledge: the fact that all trainee GP posts in north Wales have been filled for the first time; the fact that flu vaccination rates in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board are amongst the very best in Wales; the fact that maternity services, which were a concern at the very start of special measures, are no longer a matter of special concern.

When I hear the Member lecture us on the state of the health service in Wales, deficits and the need to follow the advice of the Public Accounts Committee in securing external help to bring about even further improvement, I'm reminded of the United Lincolnshire trust that his party is responsible for, a trust that is half the size of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, and whose deficit last year was greater than the whole of the Welsh NHS put together, and which spends millions of pounds in securing external support, yes, in order to try to deal with the issues that that trust faces.

First Minister, we know how health and well-being are shaped by more than just clinical intervention. Social, cultural, political, economic and environmental factors have a huge impact to play on health outcomes. Wales's future generations commissioner talks about the need for a national approach for wellness and the need to encompass all these factors when talking about a healthy nation. What considerations has the First Minister given to building on the work already undertaken by the future generations commissioner and the Welsh Government's plan for health and social care in establishing a national wellness service that would work with our NHS to improve health outcomes, take the pressure off our wonderful NHS staff and make sure that we are firing on all cylinders?

I thank Jack Sargeant for those very important points. In answering both the questions that I've been asked this afternoon about priorities for the national health service, the first thing that I have mentioned has been the need to shift the system in the direction of prevention. If we are to prevent ill health in the Welsh population, then it is an emphasis on those things that keep people well that we will need to see in the system as a whole.

Now, how you keep people well is a combination of things that the health service itself can do through vaccination programmes, for example, a really important contribution that public health makes, but also all those other public services that Jack Sargeant made reference to. We know that the state of housing has a profound impact upon people's health. We know that being able to be in a job that you find fulfilling and allows you to pay your way in the world has an enormous impact on people's well-being. We also know that there are things that individuals can do for themselves with assistance in terms of diet, in terms of exercise, in terms of looking out for their own health and well-being, and it's only when you draw all those things together—the things that the health service can do, the things that other public services can do and the things that individuals are able to do for themselves—that we will succeed in creating a service that is not a national illness service, but a national health and well-being service of the sort that we would want to see here in Wales.