2. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's support for GP practices during the COVID-19 pandemic? OQ55721

Llywydd, I thank Russell George for that question. Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic has meant implementing considerable changes to general medical services. Further investment in the GMS contract has supported GPs to prepare and adopt new ways of working, including a national video consultation service in all GP practices in Wales.

Thank you, First Minister, for your reply. I know you'll agree with me that GPs have reacted quickly and flexibly during the pandemic, which we all thank them for. Now, in spite of that, what I'm told by GPs in my constituency is that, despite a number of requests via the appropriate channels, GPs have stood alone—this is what they're telling me—in planning and organising this year's flu campaign. And they're telling me that Welsh Government have raised the expectations amongst patients by their promotion of the flu vaccination this year, with no detail about how this will be delivered. Can you, First Minister, reassure me today that GPs will have adequate funding to weather the winter pressures, and that they will have rapid testing and results to ensure that they and their teams on the ground have as little disruption as possible, and that there will be the suspension of any unnecessary administration burdens, so that they're able to continue delivering the high quality of care that, of course, they provide to patients?

Llywydd, I do agree with what Russell George has said about the way in which primary care—GPs, but other contractors as well—have worked so hard during this pandemic. And they've been assisted by the Welsh Government in that, despite the fact that, in the first six months of the pandemic, GP practices were unable to provide the enhanced services for which they are paid through the contract, but Welsh Government paid them as though those enhanced services were being provided. And that was in order to provide financial stability for those practices during that difficult time. And I really do want to pay tribute to the way in which our GP practices have embraced the new technological possibilities that have come with the pandemic: the Attend Anywhere system, the video consultation service—over 10,000 video consultations now carried out in GP practices across Wales, and that is being supported by funding to practices to make sure that they are able to sustain that level of provision.

As to flu vaccination, Llywydd, I think it's great that people want to come forward for vaccination. But, vaccine is released from the UK pandemic stock in tranches, and we have concentrated, in the early stages, on those who are over 65 and vulnerable in other ways. We've enhanced the payment we give to GPs—they're getting an extra £1.75 for ever flu vaccine that they carry out. I think that now means they're paid more than £12 for every vaccination, and the Welsh Government pays for the cost of the vaccination itself as well, and we'll continue to do that. Further guidance to GPs on how to access the additional stocks coming to the UK was issued on 14 October, and I hope that that will have been of help to those who have been in touch with the Member. 

First Minister, this pandemic has had a severe impact on primary care, placing additional obligations and burdens on an already struggling workforce. We know we need to recruit more GPs to cope with workloads in normal times, but, as we enter cold and flu season with COVID-19 still running rampant, the pressures will be immense. First Minister, we know technology can play, and does play, a role in reducing these pressures, so what plans does the Welsh Government have to expand the availability of telemedicine in primary care in Wales? Diolch.

Well, thank you, Caroline Jones. That is a very important question, and I think, in desperately difficult times, the way in which GP practices have been able to adapt to telephone consultations, to video consultations, has been a real hallmark of that response. And I've been talking to a number of people recently who have said to me just how easy those services have been to use, and how they wouldn't want to go back to the way that things were previously provided, when they would have had to have left their homes, made difficult journeys, struggled to park, sat in a waiting room with other people who are unwell, in order to do something that now they can do equally satisfactorily from their own homes.

Another aspect, Llywydd, of the way in which technology is coming to the assistance of our GP community is through the availability now of the Consultant Connect service, which means that GPs can connect directly to a consultant in secondary care if they have a patient in front of them where they need that extra expertise, which a consultant in a speciality is able to bring. That's been very important in a number of our GP practices and I know is appreciated by those GP colleagues who now have that additional back-up to the expertise that they themselves are able to apply. 

First Minister, can I place on record my congratulations to the GP services in the Pontypridd and Taff-Ely area for the way in which they've been administering the flu vaccine service? I had two text messages, I had a phone call, and I attended the Tonyrefail leisure centre for my flu vaccine, which was delivered in almost conveyor-belt style. It took about two minutes for the whole process to be operated, with a continual flow of local persons, particularly the first batch of the over-65s. Can I, though, raise the point that I think a number of Senedd Members will have had mentioned and that is that there have been some hiccups in terms of supplies? I heard your answer earlier, and I'm just wondering what assurances can be given that there will be sufficient supplies of the vaccine for all those who would actually benefit from the flu vaccine at the present time, bearing in mind it's importance in terms of the comorbidity issue with regard to COVID.  

Well, Llywydd, Mick Antoniw's opening remarks do remind me of a conversation that I had only yesterday with a young person in Cardiff, who told me that she had telephoned her general practitioner surgery in the morning, she had a reply back from the GP before 9.30 a.m., the GP sent her a text message by 9.45 a.m. for a video consultation, the video consultation had been completed by 10 o'clock in the morning, and everything that that young person needed from her GP service had been concluded within 90 minutes of her making the original phone call. I think that is a remarkable service, and that young person was just full of praise for the way it had all been conducted on her phone, in the way that young people are able to do, and she certainly wouldn't want to go back to the way things were before.

In relation to the additional stocks, we will have over 400,000 additional vaccines here in Wales, compared to the supplies we had last year. They don't all arrive at once and it's inevitable that there is some prioritisation, in which those patients who are most at risk get it first. We're very lucky that flu is in very low circulation in Wales at this point, very early on, of course, in the flu season. We publish a weekly data monitor of the circulation of flu through Public Health Wales. In the first week, which I think was just two weeks ago, there were two reported cases of influenza in the whole of Wales. So, the prioritisation programme is working, it's working in line with clinical risk, and over this winter and into December, there will be significantly additional vaccines available—enough to vaccinate an additional 40 to 50 per cent of adults in Wales, who are able to get a vaccination free of charge in the NHS this year, compared to those age cohorts we were able to provide a service of that sort to last year.