3. What assessment has the Minister made of hospital capacity in South Wales East over the winter period? OQ57297

Thank you very much. Health boards are responsible for planning to meet the needs of their residents. There has been concerted work throughout the pandemic to forecast demand and develop surge capacity to meet anticipated peaks. Ensuring sufficient capacity for winter is a key priority and it's discussed regularly with health boards and included within winter plans.

Thank you, Minister. New data published in 2021 by the Welsh Government show that, within Welsh hospitals, there is an average of 10,340 beds available, a drop of over 200 beds recorded from the previous 12 months. Minister, when was it decided that slashing beds was the right course of action, especially during the pandemic? In 1999, when the Senedd was first established, there were 14,723.4 average daily beds available in Wales. That's a nearly 30 per cent decrease in hospital beds since Labour have had control in Wales. My region of South Wales East continues to be the worst affected area for COVID infections, with further concerns of flu levels obviously coming over the winter, and we see beds now still at levels lower than in 2009-10, by nearly 50 beds in my region. Can the Minister assure me that she will not make any further cuts to bed numbers and work with health boards to bring bed capacity up in South Wales East and the rest of Wales?

Well, I think it's really important for us to understand that actually we've got a programme, and the programme, 'A Healthier Wales', is trying to make sure that people get support as close to home as possible, and ideally that would be in the home. So, that's where we need to be heading. I think we've also got to understand that, actually, the way we do health is changing all of the time. So, a few years ago, if you had a problem with your eyesight, for example, you'd have to go into hospital, have an operation, and you'd be there for days. Well, today, you can go in and leave on the same day. So, obviously, there is no need for beds for that kind of operation in future. So, technology has helped us to move things on.

I think it's really important also for us to understand that, actually, if we can, we want to get people out of hospital as quickly as possible. The next question you're going to ask me is why we've got so many infections in hospitals. I don't want people in hospital. I'd like to get them home as soon as we can. So, that is the answer—we absolutely need to provide the care we can as much as we can at home.

Now, at the moment, we obviously are in a situation where we're stretched. The fact is that about 9 per cent of the hospital beds in Wales at the moment are taken up with COVID patients, many of whom have not had the vaccine. And I do think it's really important that the people of Wales are listening to this, particularly the people who haven't taken up that opportunity. You are taking up a bed that could have been avoided. There are people waiting in pain that could have had that bed, and it's really important that people understand their responsibility to the wider community to take up the opportunity to have the vaccination. 

Minister, I've heard various reports about the new Grange hospital in Cwmbran, and I would stress that this is in no way a criticism of heroic front-line staff. The Royal College of Physicians' recent report calls for an urgent review of the provision of care for the elderly; they raise concerns about chronic workloads and staffing problems and they spoke about parents—patients, forgive me—being moved between the Grange and three other hospitals in the area that don't have A&E departments, with elderly patients with dementia being moved eight times between different hospitals and wards. A senior doctor has recently warned that the hospital is struggling to get patients through the system safely and that the hospital is struggling to cope with emergency arrivals, with ambulances having to wait outside. I note, Minister, that you'd said in a recent written answer to Peter Fox that there have been nearly 8,500 ambulance patient handover delays since the hospital opened. Now, I know that we're going into a really difficult winter period, Minister, and this is concerning. I'd be grateful if you could set out what support the Government is able to offer the health board to improve patient safety as we enter these crucial winter months to root out these systemic issues and reassure staff that their concerns are being listened to.

Diolch yn fawr. I think it's—. I'm very aware of the Royal College of Physicians inquiry into the Grange hospital. I know that the health board has responded and are taking that very, very seriously, but I'm also aware that the community health council have written a report as well. They also highlight some of the challenges at the Grange, but they also have emphasised some examples of good patient care, and positive patient and staff experiences, so I think it's really important that we don't talk down the Grange hospital. This is an incredible facility; it's really important that people understand that, actually, it's a facility that is right at the heart of a huge area, it was very carefully thought through, but, obviously, what we're facing here is a huge amount of pressure, the likes of which we've never seen before, particularly when it comes to ambulance services. That's why we have made £25 million additional support funding to go to the transformation of urgent and emergency care services to make sure we deliver the right care in the right place at the right time. I know this is being used in the Grange hospital to see if we can do more work in cohorting multiple patients who've come in in ambulances—so, a lot of creative ideas coming through there.

So, I do hope that things, of course, will improve in the Grange. They are making sure, I think, that there's an electronic waiting-time board, so that people have more visibility on how long they've got to wait, but also there's a work stream on admission avoidance, and that's what we've got to see, to make sure that people are going to the right hospital at the right time. I know they've sent a leaflet to every household in the area, but it's important that people perhaps take the opportunity before they set out to make sure that they are going to the right hospital for their care.