6. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Increasing Allied Health Professionals in Primary and Community Care

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:17 pm on 24 January 2023.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 5:17, 24 January 2023

Thanks very much. I'd just like to confirm that I agree with you that this can't be just reactive; it can't be about, 'How do we get people out of hospital?' It's about avoiding hospital admission. That's key for me. But, if they do go into hospital, there's some great examples already around Wales where we have hospital to home, so support is there and they're being monitored digitally. So, you know, the twenty-first century is here. I know we've got a few fax machines, but I'll be getting rid of those soon. Some of this is happening already, and what we need to do is to roll out best practice, and then that monitoring. If you see that things are changing, you can send somebody in and it can be fixed. So, it's got to be reactive as well, but, for me, I think it's really important that we think about prevention as well. There's a lot of evidence to show that we kind of know the people who are going to take up the bed space. They're generally people who are known to us, and, if they go into hospital, they'll stay there for a long time. So, why don't we just put the support around them in the community to avoid that happening from the beginning?

It's part of the six goals programme. So, a lot of this is happening already, but this is all part of strengthening that. We've built these six goals with the professionals. This is not something we've made up in Government; this is a clinically led response to what they think needs to happen. We've been really systematic about it, and this is part of building that jigsaw. When it comes to building the team, this is happening in lots of places already, but, sometimes, I think the system's a little bit overcomplicated. So, what I don't want is to have teams of 20 people sitting around discussing Mrs Jones's needs. I think we've got to be able to trust each other professionally as well. So, you need to make an assessment and then it's shared out. But, I also think there's a lot to be said for actually—. Working in isolation is quite tough, so, actually, working in a team, I think, will help us to keep people in some of those areas, including carers. So, that's really important. And in terms of pay and conditions, they'll be getting the standard rates of pay for this profession.