Part of 5. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 4:48 pm on 20 October 2021.
Thanks very much, John. You are quite right that we're not out of the woods yet in relation to the pandemic. The good news, of course, is that the translation of COVID cases into hospitalisations has been massively reduced as a result of our very successful vaccination programme. So, we're hoping not to see the kind of incidence that we saw in the first and second waves, where we are seeing very high incidence in our communities now.
You are absolutely right to draw attention to the fact that flu is also likely to be a big issue this winter. Those winter pressures are already with us, I'm afraid to say, because, partly, of the issue of trying to address that backlog, in addition to all of those other pressures. One thing that I think is key, and that you alluded to there, is the fact that new model is quite complicated. So, we do need to make sure that the people who have that hospital serving them in that area—they need to understand what the model looks like.
I have been in touch with Aneurin Bevan about this, really asking them to make sure that they reach out to the public, to make them very aware of where they should be going for what. My understanding is that they have done a lot of outreach work, that they have done leaflets to all households within the area, so that people should be aware. But there are always people who, in that moment of an emergency perhaps, haven't got quite an understanding of where they should go under those circumstances. So, we need to monitor the situation, John, that’s absolutely clear, and I can assure you that I will be making sure that I keep an eye on the follow-up to this report. And I’m sure the Royal Collage of Physicians will be revisiting this, just to make sure that everything has been implemented as promised.