Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:28 pm on 8 June 2021.
I just wanted to thank the Minister for her statement and ask a question about GP appointments. At the moment, GP appointments are by phone or video unless there's a clinical need for a face-to-face consultation, and figures from BMA Cymru have recently shown that GPs have faced 18 per cent higher rates of appointments than the pre-COVID levels. Some of these remote consultations will take a lot longer than a face-to-face consultation, doctors might need to ask patients many more questions than they would in person, and remote consultations can often be quite difficult for some people to access as well—people without broadband or telephone signal, for example. However, it does work for some people. So, can I ask what the Welsh Government strategy is, going forward, to provide both methods of appointments and to increase the availability of both, going forward?