Accident and Emergency Departments

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:40 pm on 23 March 2022.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 2:40, 23 March 2022

Thanks very much, Mike, and I absolutely agree that we do need to provide alternatives to A&E, which is one of the reasons why we've invested an additional £25 million and set out six priority actions that we expect health boards and the ambulance service to deliver on. 

We're hoping that urgent primary care centres—there's £7 million earmarked for those—will provide a new model for service delivery. I know that Swansea is likely to get at least £0.5 million of this funding. And we're anxious to see more same-day emergency care services, and shortly we'll be publishing national guidance on that in order to improve patient flow.

But, on top of that, I am absolutely delighted to say, at last, we have a national 111 service where people can phone up for an alternative view before they go to A&E so that they can be sent to the appropriate service for them. Cardiff introduced their new 111 service on 16 March, and because of that now we will be able to promote that service as a national service that is available to everybody in Wales.