Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 4:05 pm on 16 December 2020.
The two health boards that I indicated earlier in the week have made public their choices to restrict some services—not just elective surgery but a range of out-patient appointments and others as well. I think it is entirely possible that we will see other health boards needing to do the same. And I refer to 'needing' to do the same—not wanting to but needing to—because of the very real service pressures. So, as I indicated in my answer to the Plaid Cymru spokesperson, we've already seen Cardiff and Vale assisting Cwm Taf Morgannwg with some of the pressures that they're facing, and it's important that mutual aid does exist across our national health service.
I think it goes to the heart of the first question about making sure that health boards don't operate in an isolated fashion where they only think in a very narrow way, but to understand the broader impact. And that, too, has to be a consideration for the impact on the Welsh ambulance service as well, because the way that pressures are managed will have an impact on the ability to get to people in the community, to manage the emergency calls that they are taking and then to move those people to the right place for their care to continue.
So, as I've indicated, the up-to-date position is that Aneurin Bevan are reporting an 11 per cent staff absence. I'll want to provide more figures to Members and the public on staff absences. I don't have a list to give you exactly on each and every health board, but people should not be surprised to see rising staff absences across each health board, in line with community transmission that we know is taking place. The R rate is going up across Wales, the threat level is rising across Wales; that's why the First Minister made the announcements that he did today.
On elective care and other planned care, I recognise that there is harm caused when that is delayed. There is nothing pleasant about putting off treatment, which will cause anxiety for people, even if they understand and support why it's being done. If you're living with discomfort, then it may not be of much comfort to you that there is someone else in even greater need. But that is why our NHS is making these choices. That is why, as health Minister, I've endorsed the NHS having a framework to help guide those choices. Because the need is so great and we have people who will need care that could be the difference between long-term disability or the difference between surviving and not, and those are the choices that we are engaged in making. So, that's why I'm supporting and have endorsed that framework of action, and I'm afraid that there are more of those choices to come in the weeks and months ahead.