Part of 5. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 4:33 pm on 20 October 2021.
Diolch yn fawr, and I took that report very seriously as well and was extremely concerned when I heard about it first-hand from the Royal College of Physicians when I met Dr Olwen Williams earlier on in the summer. I think we do need to remember the context in which those visits were taking place. We must remember that the Grange was opened ahead of time and that was partly as a result of responding to the pandemic. And it was because of that that perhaps the checks that would usually be made before you open a hospital, perhaps were not made in the way that usually would have occurred, and it was at that time or very soon after that that the visit took place by the Royal College of Physicians. And so, clearly, there are issues to address.
I'm very pleased that the action plan is very detailed—that the health board is taking it extremely seriously and that they have started looking very seriously at quite significant additional recruitment to take pressure off the staff who are currently there. But also, one of the issues that I'm particularly concerned about is the well-being of the staff, and certainly there is a review being undertaken in relation to that—a review of medical staffing. There are strategies to address that medical recruitment situation. There's a board, which will focus on staff well-being and engagement, and they'll be meeting face to face with representatives of the staff on a fortnightly basis now. There will certainly be some work to do in relation to patient flow at the Grange, and provision of safe care for children at other hospital sites in the health board area, in addition to the fact that there will be a focus on training and education. So, I am pleased to see the health board has certainly taken this seriously, but as I say I will be watching to make sure that what they said they're going to do is actually enacted.