3. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS Winter Pressures

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:55 pm on 10 January 2023.

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Photo of Russell George Russell George Conservative 2:55, 10 January 2023

Happy new year, Minister, to you and thank you for your statement today, and I'd like to start by adding my own thanks and appreciation to our incredibly dedicated and hard-working Welsh NHS staff and professionals. Minister, over the last decade, your Government has failed to invest more than £400 million in the Welsh NHS compared to other Governments across the UK. Whilst COVID has caused significant harm to our NHS, your Government, of course, has been responsible for the Welsh NHS for nearly 25 years. So, do you accept that if you had used the funding correctly, we'd be in a better position than we are in now? And, to use a cliché that I don't like using, but I shall say it in this regard, why didn't you fix the roof whilst the sun was shining? 

Minister, you claim that planning for winter pressures started in—[Interruption.] I can hear the First Minister talking away. It was the First Minister in his statement yesterday to the press who told us that the first 10 years of devolution were wonderful under a Labour UK Government. So, if that's the case, why didn't you fix the roof then? Why have we got these problems that exist now?

Minister, you claim that planning for winter pressures started in April, but I'm concerned, as I relayed at the time, that the publication of the plan to tackle these pressures was late in coming forward. And it is clear that the process, I would suggest, isn't working. So, can I ask you what is it going to take for health boards and your Government to review the impact of winter pressures, and what immediate action can you take to fully utilise the summer months to prepare for another winter? 

Minister, I do welcome your points on the ambulance service—that's very welcome—but I do feel that they don't go far enough. In your last update, you told me that you will be making sure ambulance handover delays are reduced, but the chief executive of the Wales ambulance service, Jason Killens, said it is now not uncommon for in excess of 30 per cent of our available crews to be tied up outside hospital waiting to hand over patients to care, which means that they're unable, of course, to go back to support patients in the community, resulting in longer waiting times for them to arrive. So, what progress have you made in this area, Minister, because Wales continues to have, as we know, the slowest ambulance response times on record and the worst A&E waits, and the longest NHS treatment lists in Britain? 

I have given you a number of suggestions, Minister, for developing different areas. One is winter war rooms, and I would suggest we need winter war rooms that have 24/7 data-driven control centres to provide accurate information on bed capacity in hospitals and care homes, run by clinicians and experts who can identify pressure points and act to reduce deadly ambulance delays and lengthy waits in A&E. I wonder what consideration you've given to this policy, Minister. 

You talk about a five-year transformation plan. I kind of sigh when I hear about transformation plans. It's not that I disagree with transformation plans, but, since I've been here, I've heard about transformation plans over the past 10 years, but then we don't see the outcomes that are delivered from those transformation plans. I do wonder whether there's a lack of cultural change within the Welsh Government and a lack of trust in innovation that will only further add to the issues that we face within the Welsh NHS. 

Minister, you know I've constantly called for surgical hubs. We've got more than 50 further hubs in England coming, in addition to the 91 that are already in place. We're falling further behind in this regard. I welcome the addition in your statement, that you apologise to patients for the quality of service that they are receiving, however, I can't help thinking that we should have just been preparing—you should have been preparing—during the course of the pandemic for post-pandemic progress, and I wonder if you could update us, Minister, on your plans in terms of starting to build the hubs that I and my colleagues have been calling for. It's not just me saying that; the Royal College of Surgeons welcome the announcement of those surgical hubs to end the limbo that patients face. Minister, I'll end my questions there.