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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 12:28 pm on 24 March 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 12:28, 24 March 2020

Thank you. I'll start on the last one, about responsible volunteering. We've seen a large outpouring of people who are prepared to help organising activity within their own community. I think that the organising role of local authorities is hugely important in this, and certainly through RCT's, but other councils', experience with flooding, about the effort that they themselves have instituted, provides a good base to do that now for an even more extended period of time. But we are looking to learn about what is working, and, seeing a former local government Minister in the Chamber, it is fair to say that there are times when people aren't as keen to learn and adopt what works in another part of Wales, but are much happier to see it distinguished and do their own thing. This is a time for those things to be put to one side, to understand what works well and to be able to share it and adopt it rapidly in every part of the country where there is a benefit—not just in local government; that also has applied at various points in time in the health service as well, where some health boards have not always readily adopted good practice in other parts of the service. There's no time for that, and there'll be no patience for that now. And, as I say, I do think that, right across the political spectrum of local government, there's been a real coming together and it's been a very impressive part of the response.

On testing, the capacity is already increasing and, as I've indicated in my statement last week, the press briefing on the weekend, and earlier in my statement today, the significant increase in testing that is coming in the very near future allows us to test more people. And the points you make about general practitioners and their families—it's part of that wider point already about the more capacity we have, the more speed we'll have to test more people to get them back into the workplace. But there are already NHS staff who are being tested because they're self-isolating, and there will be people who are returning because they've already had that testing rolled out to them in accordance with the guidance that the chief medical officer issued towards the end of last week.  

Finally, on the uplifting point you mentioned about the work of staff in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, and not just across Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board but right across the health service. By chance, I saw a link to nurses in Morriston this morning singing 'I'll Be There'. Now, in normal times with a microphone and an opportunity to sing a song like that, you'd have trouble peeling me away—[Interruption.] These are extraordinary times, but perhaps not that extraordinary. [Laughter.] Actually, to see what the health service staff are doing for themselves, for their own morale and well-being, but also to understand that there's an impact there for their colleagues and the wider public too, really does reinforce how incredibly fortunate we are to have the commitment and the compassion of our NHS and wider workforce. As I said earlier, we will need them now more than ever.