3. Will the Minister make a statement on efforts to improve communication between the NHS and patients in Wales? OAQ54738

Our plan for health and social care, 'A Healthier Wales', aims to strengthen the voice of the citizen and ensure that we listen to and engage with the people of Wales. Information is provided to patients in a variety of ways to try to meet the varying needs and preferences of people across the country.

I thank the Minister for that answer, but not only is communication between NHS staff and patients critical, but, I'm sure we'd all agree, good communication throughout all NHS institutions can be crucial in patient care. We've had several instances brought to us by constituents that this communication is often not satisfactory, in particular communication between Nevill Hall Hospital in my area with other hospitals. In a specific instance, their communication with both the Princess of Wales Hospital and the Royal Glamorgan has resulted in poor patient care. Is this the result of the patient being moved through different hospital boards?

This hiatus in communication between patient medical records is having a direct effect on quality and continuity in the care a patient receives. As has been alluded to, good information on patient treatment regimes is critical to the care and outcomes of that treatment. We've also been made aware that medical practitioners, strangely, including consultants, cannot directly access patient information from Velindre. Would the Minister please look closely at these apparent failures? 

We've had a real challenge in making sure that, as we've normalised the way in which we use information in our everyday lives, the health service catches up with that, in the way that we move some of the industrial-scale records that we create, with all of the different patient episodes that the health service provides—over 18 million patient interactions for a country of just over 3 million in one year. Our challenge is to make sure that that is available to people who require that information in front of them when they're actually providing care with and for that person.

We've made lots of progress in the last 10 years in doing that, but our challenge is that there is still much more to be done. That's why the announcements I've made on digital infrastructure and connectivity in the service matter so much, and it's why actually having a new fit-for-purpose system in primary care matters as well—to make sure that information is properly available to whoever needs it and, more than that, in the contract reform programme we have, to make sure we have a version of the patient record available to other healthcare professionals that we are directing and encouraging people to use, whether that's in ophthalmology on a high street in an optician or, indeed, in a pharmacy or other settings.

Minister, the Welsh Language Commissioner recently launched a campaign to raise awareness of the need for further development of a bilingual workforce in the NHS in Wales. He warned that Welsh-speaking patients are suffering and may even be put at risk if they cannot communicate with health professionals through the medium of Welsh. 

International research shows that people with dementia lose the ability to communicate in their second language after some time or later in age. Minister, what action are you taking to ensure that healthcare services are designed so that patients can receive treatment and care through the medium of Welsh or their own language? Thank you.  

We're making significant efforts to think about how we recruit and train people, and how we open up careers in healthcare at a much earlier age. For example, we've done some work with Welsh-medium schools about encouraging some of their students to consider a career in the health service, not just to be a doctor but the wider range of care services available.

When we think about what we're doing to support people, for example, we're retaining the bursary to make sure that people who study locally in a range of those nursing and wider associated healthcare professional roles are supported by the bursary. That means that people who are local to home are more likely to study locally and more likely to carry on working there, because a range of those people aren't traditional undergraduates at the age of 18 or 19. When they start, they're often people who have their own responsibilities.

So, where and how we train our staff, and where and how we recruit them, matters. Making sure that people have the idea that a career in the health service is open and available to them at a much earlier point is part of the work that we're doing to do just that.

Minister, I'm sure I'm not the only Member who's had problems of patients seeking help with getting their ears syringed from their GP, and being inaccurately referred to the private sector, where they charge up to £75. So, could you tell us how you're going to ensure that GP surgeries are communicating accurately with patients as to how they can access these services within secondary care, if they can't get that service from their own GP?  

The first point is just a point about language, because ear syringing is a particular method of removing wax that is no longer National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved, and so we try not to refer to ear syringing—I know it's not just about changing language, it is a particular method itself—but to ear wax management, to try to make sure that, where people can, they can self-manage or, indeed, if they need intervention, have that provided. It is an NHS service, so people should not be referred into the private sector and be told that there is no NHS service available. There are a range of pilots taking place within the health service, some in north-east Wales, on having primary care audiology clinics available, but also within south-west Wales in the Cwm Tawe cluster. They've also got the same sort of approach in making audiology much more widely available. We will be re-communicating with colleagues in primary care about the range of services that are available, and to reiterate the message that it is an NHS Wales service and people should be provided with an NHS provider to do just that.