Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:45 pm on 10 January 2023.
Diolch yn fawr. Thanks for that, because I think it's really important that people understand that, although there are some examples of not great things happening in the NHS at the moment, there are also hundreds of thousands of great things happening in our NHS, and 376,000 consultations a month is a pretty good figure; 400,000 contacts in general medical services in a week. These are incredible figures, and certainly when I go around, very often what I get is people saying, 'Well, personally, I've had a great service', and I think it's really important that we do talk up that great service, because, frankly, it must be very demoralising, obviously not just for me, but for people working in the NHS, if all you hear is negativity.
In terms of the unions, I couldn't agree with you more. I think the anti-strike legislation that is being introduced is wholly unnecessary, and I think it was very provocative, the discussion yesterday, when they talked about productivity. You just think, 'My God, what world are these people living in?' Have they no idea how exhausted these people are? It was, I think, a huge insult, in particular, to start off negotiations with that. But, when you're talking about pooling budgets, well, you'll be aware, we've already pooled £144 million a year through the regional integration fund, which people can't access unless health and social care are working together, also with the voluntary sector. So, already we have that ring-fenced. I think we can and I think we should go further, and certainly my No. 1 priority, in terms of my guidance to the NHS for what they should be doing next year, is that they should be looking at what we can do in the space of working together in relation to care, with local authorities, and making sure we put more support from the NHS back into our communities.