Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 25 October 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:54, 25 October 2022

Llywydd, it's important to get the facts right, and I'm happy to correct the fact that the Welsh Conservative Party did win one constituency seat across the whole length of the M4 in south Wales.

As far as GP appointments are concerned, let us be clear that there is no guarantee whatsoever that that promise will be delivered. I've heard it made by Conservative health Ministers repeatedly over more than a decade. They've never managed to make it happen so far; they're certainly not going to make it happen this time either.

The Member will be aware that only last week, the Care Quality Commission published its report on the state of healthcare and adult social care in England. It described a system, as they say, in gridlock: only two people in five able to leave hospital when they are ready to do so because the state of social care and primary care in England means that those people cannot leave hospital. People in England in the health service and social care, Llywydd, are working as hard as they possibly can. I make absolutely no criticism of them. It's just that they are facing, as we do, very, very significant headwinds in being able to provide the service to everybody in the way that we would wish to do so. I spent Friday morning in a GP practice here in Wales, hearing from GPs and the wider primary care team about all the extraordinary efforts they make to be able to provide appointments for the population that they serve, and they know that every day, they're not able to do the job in the way that they would like that job to be done, but it's absolutely not because they are not doing everything they can to make that happen, and they have the full support of the Welsh Government in doing so.