7. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to ensure that hospitals have safe discharge procedures in place? OQ58780

Renewed and revised expert guidance to assist staff in safe and timely discharge of hospital patients will be launched on 6 December.

Thank you, and I do look forward to that. The reason I'm asking you the question is I did ask for a statement last week through the Trefnydd, for a statement from the health Minister and social care Minister, because I will declare an interest: I did experience a very poor situation in north Wales last week. A 98-year-old member of my family, who had mobility issues on the day he was discharged from hospital, and a broken shoulder, was recently discharged on the day and sent home with no care package in place for the remainder of that day even. They left this particular relative sat in a chair at home, unable to move. He would have actually been stuck there until carers arrived the next day, but for my own intervention, actually. Having spoken to people working within the health and social care departments that night, whereby we did manage to get some support in, I was actually almost here in Cardiff when I heard that nobody had been to see him as was promised. Now, I've been assured that this is not a unique case. Other vulnerable patients are being discharged to homes without care packages in place. Now, I appreciate that—

You'll need to come to your question, Janet.

Yes, okay. In the 2021 manifesto, you promised to legislate to strengthen partnerships to deliver better integrated care and health. So, in the light of the clear evidence that the breakdown in communication between health and social care in north Wales is posing a threat, what action will you take to ensure better integrated care and health, and that nobody else is left in such a vulnerable position? Thank you.

Well, Llywydd, I was very sorry to read the points that the Member made last week, and I'm glad to hear that as a result of her intervention some of those difficulties have been resolved.

I have asked for an assurance from the chief executive of NHS Wales that these sorts of events are exceptional in the Welsh NHS and that the vast bulk of people who are discharged do have a proper care plan in place and are not discharged into the sorts of circumstances that we've heard about this afternoon, and I received that assurance today. Mistakes do happen, and not everything is as we would like it to be, but the idea that many people are discharged in Wales in circumstances that are not safe, I think, is not borne out by the evidence, and nor should it be.

The guidance that will be launched on 6 December will strengthen that again. It will make sure that every patient will have a discharge plan, and that discharge plan will be inaugurated on the day that the person is admitted. You should be planning for discharge from admission. The plan that will be announced on 6 December will strengthen that. That is backed up by the additional investment that the Welsh Government has provided in this financial year, which is shared investment. It is at that integrated point that the Member mentioned, where health and social care services sit down together, plan together to provide services so that, when someone is moving from one service to another, there aren't gaps in the system that cause the sort of difficulty that we were hearing about earlier. 

And finally, question 8, Mark Isherwood.