Supporting Vulnerable People

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:36 pm on 12 October 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:36, 12 October 2021

Well, I thank Sarah Murphy for that point. As primary care has quite rightly relied on technological ways of providing advice and treatment outcomes to people, so the need to make sure that those technological platforms are effective for people is even more important than it was before. As part of our access arrangement with the General Practitioners Committee Wales, we provided millions of pounds of fresh investment to assist GP practices in making sure that their telephone systems, for example, were fit for today's society. I know the picture is mixed, in the way that the Member for Bridgend has mentioned. In the end, as she will know, these are private contractors who make their own arrangements for telephony services. We work with them, though, and we work with GPC Wales, including by additional funding, to try to make the performance of the whole system as good as it is for the best. And I know, from the work that she has done in her own constituency, which she shared with me, that she's come across some very good examples of where people feel that the service they get from their own surgery meets their needs very well. Now we need the rest to be in the same position.