2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:55 pm on 14 January 2020.

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Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 2:55, 14 January 2020

Can I call for a single statement on resources in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board? I receive many e-mails from constituents, whether that's patients, family members or staff, who, based on their own experience, wish to share suggestions for how services might be improved in the health board. I'll only quote one of those, received this month:

'Just before Christmas, my husband became ill with a serious chest infection which became pneumonia. He had a total of three admissions to the emergency department. On the third occasion, he was eventually admitted to the high-dependency unit where he received excellent care. However, the fact is on three occasions he was, in my opinion as a registered nurse, not well triaged. The matron of the unit was working extremely hard to move patients through the department and she was introducing herself to patients, however she did not seem to be getting a lot of support from junior staff. She apologised for the state of the department, which was obviously desperately overstretched. I hope that she is given the time and the resources to sort this department out. Please can you do something to help her by asking the Welsh Government to urgently put more resources into Glan Clwyd? Not just by throwing money at the problem, but by ensuring that the money available is spent on opening beds in the main hospital and also in the community hospitals, so that people are not occupying beds in the acute sector when they really need community hospital care. I'm thankful to the staff and consultants in the high-dependency unit for the fact that my husband is still alive, but I fear that he's lucky to be so after what he's been through in the emergency department. I hope that this e-mail is taken note of for the sake of all of us who live in Flintshire, Denbighshire and Conwy.'

I call for a statement in that context, not just about the totality of money spent but, in this context, responding to suggestions about how that money might be spent better.