Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:24 pm on 18 May 2022.
I'm going to try and calm things down here a little bit, and let's try and get a little bit more constructive. Now, HIW have said exactly what needs to be done in this situation. They've said—they've listed what needs to be done. The response wasn't what it should have been when they went back in; now there has a been response from the health board. So, let me tell you what they are planning to do. They are planning to strengthen operational and executive oversight of Glan Clwyd Hospital's emergency department; they are planning to put more senior leadership input and spot checks in there—that was certainly something that I felt needed to be done on my visit; they are going to be having two-hourly safety meetings so that approaches are strengthened within the emergency quadrant, along with that senior increased visibility; training is going to be increased across a number of areas. You can imagine that training during the pandemic had to be paused because there was so much going on—that training is going to be reinstated. Vulnerable patients will be identified and discussed at the two-hourly safety meetings, and discharge planning will commence on arrival.
And beds, frankly, are not always the answer—that's certainly not what HIW is saying, and I would rather listen to HIW, who are the experts. And let's be clear that, actually, putting people in beds is not the answer. Our proposal and our policy approach is to get people home from hospital as soon as possible. There's going to be a new digital patient tracking system that is going to streamline patient journeys with increased training for staff to use it. So, there are measures in place. They've been very clear about how they intend to respond to this and we, of course, will be looking at this in the tripartite meeting in June.