Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:39 pm on 27 November 2019.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:39, 27 November 2019

I think that's an appalling way to finish a question—as if it does not matter. Everything that I do in this job and the choices I make are about people in Wales who work in our service, people in Wales who need the health service. Far from there being a tsunami of unanswered concerns—. And, again, the overstated nature, in terms of the language you're using, I think really doesn't do you any credit, Angela Burns—[Interruption.] The reality is that having understood, following the joint report commissioned by the royal colleges, the nature of the concerns that existed, every organisation has looked again across the NHS at what it is doing and why. And if you look at the previous Wales Audit Office governance reviews, they don't reveal the same level of concern, and the detailed work they've done together with Health Inspectorate Wales doesn't reveal either.

There is a requirement for cultural change, and I've been very, very open about that and about the expectation that not just needs to take place but to be evidenced and to be felt by staff and the public. And, indeed, the new leadership in place within the health board, not just the interim chief executive, but the different approach being taken by the wider team, including independent members, is part of that as well. I'm looking forward to there being real evidence on where the health board is, and I will absolutely make choices about each and any NHS organisation dispassionately and with the interests of the public in mind.