Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:16 pm on 5 February 2020.
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.