Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:19 pm on 24 March 2021.
The Government never had a plan to close A&E consultant-led services; the health board had to deal with the reality of not being able to recruit staff. It is a matter of success for us all that the health board has successfully recruited sufficient doctors, including consultants, to make sure that that service recovers. And, actually, I should say that seeing other Members from across the Cwm Taf Morgannwg area on this call, it's a reality that that service would have collapsed without the support of consultants from other parts of the health board. When I visited the Royal Glamorgan, I met consultants from the Princess of Wales who had come to that hospital to make sure that the service continued, that it did not collapse. That maintained a service and gave the health board room to go out and recruit again, which they did successfully. There is no need, therefore, to revisit this issue because they have sufficient staff. The challenge is to keep on recruiting and retaining staff in that area, to make sure that services aren't just local but that they are high quality, and the future of health and care services here in Wales will mean we constantly need to refresh our workforce and to look again at the best way to deliver the best quality care. Most of that care will be local. Ultra-specialist care will need to go into specialist centres; I would certainly travel for the best care for me and my family. But I don't believe any of us should be under any illusion that there is a threat to consultant-led A&E services. As we speak now, or going into this election, I hope that people in the Rhondda and beyond will recognise and accept that assurance of the future of consultant-led A&E services.