8. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 11:42 am on 24 March 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 11:42, 24 March 2020

Thank you for the questions. I'll try to deal as quickly as I can with the questions as asked. On bed numbers, the 350 beds being released in the Grange University Hospital, together with around 150 that we expect to have agreement on from the private sector, makes up 500 extra beds. They are really for step-down facilities; the private sector don't have intensive care capacity.

But the point made by the medical director in Hywel Dda today when describing the action that they're taking together with the local authority, converting some local authority buildings, and the offer made by the Scarlets to use some of their premises too, is again about flow to make sure that people can get out into the step-down facility as well. So, we do think we'll be able to have enough people to come and do that. 

Now, the variety of people, including allied health professions, who are engaged in their undergraduate studies are people that we think we can employ in forms of healthcare support roles to get people to work alongside registered professionals. They'll be paid properly for their work; we're not going to ask them to come in and do that for free. I've seen rumours circulating in certain parts of the social media maze suggesting that we're trying to get people to do this for free. That isn't what we're proposing. That obviously means—and the commentary the First Minister gave earlier about the budgetary realignment—a significant additional financial pressure to make sure there is a workforce who can come in to do that, just as the pressure we'll have on having more PPE to come into our service, and the more ventilators that we're going to have to look to purchase individually, but also as part of the UK supply as well. 

So, yes, I do think we're going to be able to find enough staff, but I have to repeat the warning I've given previously that the way that we care for people will be different; not just converting facilities that don't normally look like hospitals into a form of health and care, but equally the way in which staff are able to care for and treat people. The sort of ratios that we're used to seeing and expect to see at normal times—well, we may all have to tolerate a different way of caring for people if we're going to be able to prioritise people with the highest need, but also the numbers of people that can be in recovery and move out of that really high-need setting at an appropriate point in time. 

So, 5,000 letters have already gone out to people who have left the register in the recent past, and a number of those are coming back in. I'll happily give updates to Members when we're in a sensible position to do so about the numbers of people that have agreed or indicated they'd like to return to the register. 

On extra testing, the prioritisation was set out in the chief medical officer's statement last week that accompanied my own on testing. As I said, that significant extra testing that we should be able to achieve within the next week or so should mean that there are more people in the health service and other key workers—. And, as I say, there's been lots of commentary about social care and the police in particular—to make sure that those people can be tested and returned to the workplace if the test provides the right result.

In some of that capacity, as well as Public Health Wales, we are also talking with the university sector, who have been very positive in coming forward with an offer for help, but also, in UK-wide negotiations, I've signed off what should be an agreement we can conclude imminently with a couple of large private sector providers who will be able to give us much greater not just capacity but also robustness and resilience in testing as well. And within that, there are some Wales-only arrangements, but there are also some UK-wide arrangements to actually bolster those testing arrangements. 

That also goes on to your point about ventilators. We have about 600 extra ones. There are more on the way. The UK pool is a genuine UK pool; it's not supposed to be on a, 'One nation first and others will get some if there's anything left over', and that's really important because we're genuinely trying to collaborate and work effectively to address needs right across the United Kingdom. And it's worth reflecting those needs may be different in different nations and they may be different at different points in time. We're seeing the figures in London, for example, so they're likely to have the biggest hit first, but it won't always be the case that London will take priority over other parts of England, let alone the different nations within the UK. So, it's important that that's seen within that context.

On personal protective equipment, it's worth reflecting that there's a requirement for different equipment in different settings, and, again, the chief medical officer has issued some guidance together with Public Health Wales on the use of PPE and what is appropriate PPE for people. There should be further reassurance, though, because I know that it's a concern that Members across the Chamber and outside have reflected on, that they're hearing locally. So, I'll be issuing a further written statement today to set out what we are doing, what we expect to do, and if there are individual concerns and complaints about where people can go with those concerns and complaints to get them rapidly dealt with, because I certainly do not want our front-line staff feeling that either there isn't appropriate PPE or that more is not on its way, because that is exactly what we are trying to achieve, and that includes restocking the supplies that we currently have.

On recovery, the honest truth is that I haven't asked and I don't expect health boards to be having teams of people preparing now for recovery because the effort that we require to prepare for what is coming, I just don't think affords us the luxury of doing that. As we move through, and as we hopefully start to see the reduction in the number of cases, the reduction in the number of people who need the most significant amount of care, we'll then be able to judge how much we then put into the efforts for the recovery and to understanding what the new normal will look like. Because if we do have a significant outbreak, it will affect what we normally talk about in NHS performance, and debate, and our searching and challenging questions of each other over. In every nation of the UK, we'll find that we won't be returning to those times very quickly at all, and there needs to be some honesty within the health service about that, but also with the public, about how long it'll take us to recover and to put ourselves into a way where we will understand how the national health service will continue to serve people in the normal times that we all hope and expect to see ahead of us.