The NHS Workforce

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 3 November 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:35, 3 November 2020

Llywydd, I thank Andrew R.T. Davies for that question. I discussed this report with the director general for health and social services and the NHS Wales chief executive, Dr Andrew Goodall, earlier in the week. And we certainly will take the report seriously. But he will remember a time earlier in the pandemic when the Welsh Government was under significant questioning about discharging people from hospitals without being clear of coronavirus. That's why the 14-day period was instituted—to make sure that people couldn't be discharged to care homes, for example, until we were completely sure that they weren't carrying coronavirus into those settings. So, the 14 days  are there for a particular clinical purpose. But the Royal College of Physicians make very important points about the health of the wider population—the wider population in hospitals, that is to say—and how that might be better served by a shorter period. And we will certainly be discussing that with them and with other colleagues in the Welsh NHS.