1. Statement by the First Minister: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 26 August 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:57, 26 August 2020

Well, Llywydd, the NHS in Wales has been reopening now over many weeks, and every time we come to the end of a three-week cycle, we discuss with the chief medical officer and others the extent to which we can use any headroom we have to allow those services to continue to expand safely, and that work cannot just be magicked away by some fine words about needing to make things better. The health service will face the restrictions that are imposed by coronavirus over many months to come. Productivity in theatres, for example, is radically affected by the need to clean a theatre between every operation that is carried out, and no matter how much we might like it to be better than that, those measures are absolutely essential to safeguard the safety of patients and of staff in the health service.

So, while we continue to expand the amount of treatment that is available routinely, in terms of planned operations, in terms of cancer treatments, in terms of primary care, none of that will provide us with a straightforward path back to where the health service was able to be prior to coronavirus. We discuss that all the time with our medical staff and with our organisations to try to find better ways in which we can resume services for more people in a more timely fashion, but I just have to be straightforward, both with the Member and with others, that that is going to be a continuing struggle for the Welsh health service and for all other health services in the United Kingdom and beyond.