Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:34 pm on 15 January 2020.
Well, I don't expect to be having this conversation in 20 years' time; I hope my life will have moved on to a different point by then.
But in terms of some of the things that you said, when you describe it as not being challenging, actually, the context in which we deliver health and care is challenging. And it isn't just related to the circulation of flu or norovirus or the weather; it is the changing nature and mood of our population. And in the statement that I issued earlier today, the fact that we've had a 23 per cent increase in red ambulance calls during that period—the sickest, the most unwell people—an increase of that nature from one winter to another, that is the sort of trend you'd expect to see over several years, not over one winter. So, the context is different. The increase is different. And it's not just me saying that; any and every part of the national health service in each of the four countries in the UK is describing the same ramping up in challenges and pressures.
And in terms of the staff that I've met, they understand very well the nature of those challenges they see coming through the door, and they don't describe it as, 'It's just the same as previous winters where the system can't cope.' So, you go back to the challenge about the interface between health and social care. And, again, we've made real progress. When you look at the work that partnership boards are doing and the way they used money, not just this winter, but the improvement in relationships—. It is because of those improvements and the interface between health and social care that we're seeing flow restored, that we see flow continuing in different parts of the country, in and out of the hospital. And we are more successful than ever at keeping people in their own home now as well.
But it's still, 'How do we get even further ahead?', and that's why we're looking over not just this winter, but into the next winter, about how we get further ahead and actually spend more, not just money together, but more to stabilise and improve the services on that interface between health and social care, to keep people in their own homes more successfully, and on the ways to get them out of hospitals, which is no longer the right place for their treatment.