Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:56 pm on 29 September 2021.
I think we've got to be clear with people that accident and emergency and calling an ambulance have to be an emergency, and too many people are calling ambulances when they're not an emergency. Now, that's not to say that there are lots of people being missed at the moment when it is an emergency, and the reason for that, as I've explained, is because there's a huge increase in demand. Part of the reason for this, of course, is because we're having difficulty getting people outside, taking people out of hospital; people who are ready to be discharged can't be discharged because of the fragility of our care sector at the moment. That's why I'm spending a huge amount of my time working with my colleague Julie Morgan at the moment, trying to see what we can do to address the system in relation to care so we can improve that flow through the hospitals so we won't be getting people waiting outside hospitals in ambulances. But we won't be able to fix that unless we fix the back door of the hospitals, and so that's where my attention is focused at the moment.
In relation to particular opening of A&E, A&E is not just something you can magic up. There are huge amounts of resources that you have to place around that, and don't forget that, actually, when you put an A&E in a particular place, what it means is that if something else comes in, your planned care gets knocked out, and I'm very aware that 20 per cent of the population of Wales are also waiting for operations at the moment. So, if anything, we need to keep the division between those hot and cold areas in relation to health so that we can continue with the planned care where necessary, and opening additional A&E does not necessarily help us with our planned care. All of these things are interconnected, so I will take advice from the clinicians on where best to open A&E facilities.