4. Will the Minister make a statement on the use of private treatment within the NHS? OQ56718

It is the responsibility of health boards to ensure that they provide services to meet the needs of their local populations. It's a requirement for health boards to use the local capacity of the health service in the first instance, and then, any capacity available in the English health service, using capacity in the independent sector only when there is no other option.

Thank you for that.

We've heard already this afternoon of the tremendous pain and suffering of people across the whole country who are waiting for services, following the pandemic or as the pandemic dominates the national health service. Is it not time now, Minister, that we consider suspending the use of NHS resources for private work to ensure that all of the resources of the national health service are provided for those who are most in need and most in pain who require services, and not for those who are able to pay? 

It's the anniversary of the national health service, of course, this week, and when Nye Bevan was creating the national health service, he wanted to create a service that met the needs of people who were in need, and not those who can afford to pay. So, is it not time, in this crisis that the national health service is facing today, that we suspend all of the use of the private sector and private work within the national health service to ensure that those in need have their needs met?

Diolch yn fawr, Alun. I'm very aware of the fact that there are literally hundreds of thousands of patients, many waiting in severe pain for an operation. I can assure you that apart from COVID and preparing the NHS for winter, addressing this backlog is absolutely my top priority. 

Now, I think it's fair to say that the vast majority of NHS staff have gone way beyond and above the call of duty in this past year. When it comes to consultants, they are contracted to carry out a certain number of sessions that they provide to the NHS, and they have to undertake that before they offer anything in terms of additional work outside of the NHS.

The Wales Audit Office report found that the level of private sector activity in NHS facilities is about 0.02 per cent of all activity, so it's a very low level anyway. I think what's important is that we recognise that long waits at the moment mean that some patients are making those really difficult decisions to go private, but I can assure you that all patients are being seen in an order of clinical priority.

Our priority at the moment is to get those who need the urgent care to be seen first. But, I think it is important that we put our measures in place, as we talked about earlier, to prepare the NHS to get us into a better place for the medium term, not just to address the immediate crisis that we're facing today.

Minister, the Bridgend Clinic is a private clinic located within the Princess of Wales Hospital. It is unique to Wales, and for the past 24 years it has worked in partnership with the NHS, with more than 50 consultants practising in both the clinic and the Princess of Wales Hospital, while profits are put back into the local NHS.

We all know that the NHS is an amazing institution, but we should not hide it from meaningful and beneficial partnerships that deliver for patients. Will the Minister examine the outcomes achieved by this partnership so that other health boards may consider the advantages of building capacity in this way? Thank you.

Thanks very much for that question, Altaf. I don't know enough about this particular partnership to comment on it, but I will make sure that I go and investigate further. I know that some of the people involved in the call that I was on on Saturday are involved in the Princess of Wales Hospital, so I will investigate further and see whether there is anything that we can learn from that. Thank you.