The NHS

Part of 4. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:04 pm on 8 July 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:04, 8 July 2020

Well, I think there are a couple of important points from the variety of comments. Obviously, I don't agree with every single comment the Member's made, but when it comes to cancer services, we've already made clear that urgent cancer services were always available during the pandemic, even when other parts of the NHS were closed down, following my decision on 13 March. So, we are looking to progressively restart services. We're going to restart screening services; the Member and others will be aware they're being progressively restarted through the summer.

It's part of the difficulty, though, that because of the pandemic, a range of patients made choices to defer their treatment. That was in consultation with their treating clinicians. There were alternative treatment options provided, and I am concerned, of course, not just in cancer, but in a wide range of other areas, that we haven't seen the level of activity maintained, and what we need to do is both to rethink, as we are doing progressively, how the NHS services restart, but also to build confidence within the public that they could and should access the NHS services that are available, as, indeed, cancer services are. We're starting to see a recovery in those referrals.

The second point I think, Llywydd, is the broader point made on excess deaths. I've always been interested in the excess death figures, and what it means in terms of, not just Wales but every other part of the United Kingdom, as we try to learn from the first phase of this pandemic. I'm hopeful that before the end of next week we'll have an interim report on excess deaths, with learning for us to not just take here in Wales, but to share with other parts of the UK, as I want to learn from practice in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as England.