6. Will the First Minister make a statement on access to primary care services in Mid and West Wales during the COVID-19 pandemic? OQ56449

I thank the Member for that, Llywydd. Access to primary care services has changed rapidly across Wales over the past year. Services have had to adapt so that patients can access primary care in a safe and effective manner. Many are using digital technology to do so.

I'm grateful to the First Minister for his answer. Of course health boards have had to make changes in the provision of primary care. One instance in my region is that the surgery in the village of Trimsaran has had to be temporarily closed so that that is kept as a space that can be used for treating COVID patients if necessary. The community has accepted this, but they are concerned with the immediate situation, because they have to travel now to Kidwelly, and at the same time the bus services have been cut because of COVID—a perfect storm, but perhaps unavoidable. But there is a suspicion that the health board may use the COVID crisis to permanently close that surgery. Obviously, I think we'd want to congratulate the health board on how they've handled the crisis, and these operational matters are not matters for the First Minister, but can I ask the First Minister today if he can reassure my constituents in Trimsaran that the Welsh Government does not expect any changes to primary care services that have been made because of the COVID crisis to be extended beyond the pandemic without proper assessment and consultation?

Well, let me just emphasise the last part of what the Member said, because, on that basis, then I could sign up to what she just said, because I was about to say to her before she'd made that final point, that, of course, many of the changes that have happened during the pandemic we will want to see them continue afterwards. But they need to be properly consulted upon, and they need to be properly understood. But, the fact that we have thousands of video consultations happening every day, and people no longer having to travel inconvenient distances, and do things that were difficult for them to do, we'll want to preserve those things as well. 

The specific point that Helen Mary Jones makes points to a dilemma. I've been asked a number of times on the floor of the Senedd to think about having COVID-only hospitals, and, therefore, other hospitals that deal with all the non-COVID things. But when you do that, it's inevitable, as you see in Trimsaran, that the things you would normally go to a hospital for will no longer be available to you, and you have to travel an even longer distance to find them. So, dealing with the pandemic and trying to keep people safe, and trying to make sure that people who need the health service for non-COVID reasons don't run the risk of contracting the disease is genuinely challenging. And it's been felt in our primary care, as well as in our hospital services.

As we move beyond the pandemic, I am very keen that we learn the positive lessons, the astonishing rate of change that the health service has managed to accommodate over the last 12 months, but of course, those are things that need to be done in consultation with local populations, and to make sure that patients are taken on that journey.