Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:41 pm on 30 September 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:41, 30 September 2020

Well I think we've been very clear and consistent about the concern we had for the harm that is caused as a result of non-COVID conditions. That's both the harm that could have been caused if our health and social care system was overwhelmed—and it wasn't; it was under significant pressure in different parts of Wales, but it wasn't overwhelmed—and also the harm caused by non-COVID conditions because people are not undertaking treatment, either because they're opting out of treatment because of the concerns they have, and we definitely saw that, or indeed because it isn't possible because of the system being overwhelmed.

You'll have heard me say on a number of occasions over the past months the concerns we had about the fall in emergency admissions. That's partly because some people didn't really need and don't need—and we discuss this every year—to go into an emergency department, there are other routes for their care, but the much bigger concern was that there are people who really do need emergency care who weren't coming into our health service. And that's not just cancer; stroke, we know that there was a significant fall in people attending the national health service with stroke conditions. Now, I don't believe and there's no evidence to support the view that that meant that, suddenly, there was a significant reduction in the incidence of stroke across Wales. It's about how people were behaving, and their concerns.

We have definitely learnt from the first six months. And so we now have streaming in terms of COVID-light or COVID-green zones, and COVID-red, COVID-positive or COVID-possible zones. That's important to give people confidence, and the way that we manage patients who are coming into our health service through either one of those routes, primarily for hospitals, but also we've had to change the way that primary care has worked. So the ability to consult and to see people virtually, to speak to people on the phone, there's been a significant increase, and that should give people more confidence. But the message from me, and from our whole national healthcare system, is we're open for business, we've learnt from the first six months, and if you have a serious healthcare condition, you should continue to come forward, you should continue to seek advice, support and treatment, whether via primary care or indeed hospital care, because the NHS has certainly not closed up and we look forward to people returning in larger numbers. The case for reform in our healthcare system will be remade about the need to change the way that we work, but that does mean people need to present at the earliest opportunity to allow us to intervene in the least invasive way possible.