Group 6: Duty to secure quality in health services — register of managers (Amendment 72)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:28 pm on 10 March 2020.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 6:28, 10 March 2020

Diolch yn fawr iawn. Well, the Minister very feistily explains why he won't be supporting this amendment aimed at increasing or improving standards within the NHS in Wales in a pretty fundamental way. I do believe that Government did suggest there that they would be moving their own model of regulating managers within the NHS. I don't know if the Minister wants to confirm that, if that was your intention, Minister, in referring to what was said at Stage 1 of the Bill's journey through the Assembly; possibly not. Well, that's how I read it and I do look forward to the Government addressing this in future.

We heard the Minister say that's in an enormous task. Yes, it is an enormous task. This is a task that is worth doing. It's sometimes worth rolling up your sleeves and taking on a big task because there's a job that needs to be done. He refers to the mobility of the workforce and people working across borders. We shouldn't, should we, expect England substandard staff from Wales? Well, we don't want to take substandard staff from anywhere else, so surely we should be setting our own parameters by which we expect to be able to employ our staff in order to achieve the standards that we want within the NHS. It's the job that needs to be done. I picked up a suggestion from the Minister that it's something that Government will look at in future. I hope that's true, but for the time being we're still going to be supporting our own amendment, and I ask you to too.