7. What discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Health and Social Services regarding the value for money of using locum staff in the Welsh NHS? OAQ55060

I have regular discussions with the Minister for Health and Social Services, covering a range of financial matters within his portfolio, including those relating to the NHS staff resources, which we discussed only earlier this week.

We've been told by by chiefs at Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board that the accident and emergency department services at the Royal Glamorgan are unsafe because of the lack of permanent consultants. The last one leaves for retirement at the end of March. The same executive board say that an entirely locum-run service is not safe. From a financial point of view, they say it would cost less to employ permanent consultants. I know from reliable sources that there are locum consultants who would be willing to take up posts on a permanent basis if they were offered flexible hours and a slightly improved package. Other boards have increased their numbers of A&E consultants in recent years, yet Cwm Taf hasn't.

Of course, the other obstacle in the way is that, while the centralisation of the A&E element of the south Wales programme remains in place, that uncertainty will remain and those posts will potentially be unattractive. It seems to me and many others, including the staff working for the NHS, that no real effort has been made to recruit permanent posts, and the whole exercise has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As the Minister responsible for the Welsh Government's budget monitoring and management, do you share these frustrations about the reliance on expensive locum staff within the NHS, particularly when little effort seems to have been made in recent years to provide those permanent posts?

Over the last three years, across Wales, we've been working collaboratively with NHS health boards and trusts to design a control framework for expenditure on agency and locum staff, and those measures include increased levels of board scrutiny, minimising the deployment of locum staff, and improving value for money through capping rates and more effective procurement. There's been an ongoing reduction in spend across Wales on medical locums following the introduction of that framework. Indeed, since the introduction of the framework, there's been an almost 30 per cent reduction in the cost of medical locums, and that releases a saving of around £300 million. But of course, that's the Wales-wide picture, and I appreciate there are specific issues relating to A&E services at the Royal Glamorgan. But I have had a discussion with the health Minister, and I have to say the issues facing the A&E services at the Royal Glamorgan are not financial issues.

And finally, question 8, Mike Hedges.