Prudent Healthcare

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 7 March 2023.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:38, 7 March 2023

Llywydd, I thank Jenny Rathbone for that. I certainly share her enthusiasm for the work of Cardiff and Vale health board, at their Llandough site, in using the ground that they have available there for well-being initiatives. The fruit that is being grown in part of the western edge of that site offers patients as well as people who work for the health board an opportunity to be outside, in the fresh air, and with access to the things that we know improve individuals' sense of well-being.

As far as the mental health impact of the pandemic is concerned, it continues to be seen in all parts of Wales. The Welsh Government's new investment in mental health is often very much concentrated in that prudent healthcare part of the spectrum: investment in tier 0 and tier 1 services, and the 111 'press 2' service that's available 24 hours every day in the Cardiff and Vale health board area, and with a publicity campaign, Llywydd, which will take place throughout this month, to increase patients' awareness and use of that very valuable service. I'm very struck by what the Member said, Llywydd, about the way in which it is possible to harness the efforts of people who aren't in the health service at all to be part of the work of identifying and attending to patients needs as early as possible when those needs arise. I do recall, some years ago now, when I was health Minister, visiting Pen-y-groes, a Welsh-speaking area in the Ammanford coalfield, to see a dementia service and being told by the GPs who ran it that their most important source of referrals were hairdressers on the main street of the village, because those hairdressers knew their clientele—they could spot the person who wasn't quite managing as well as they used to, with the money, with the organisation, and they would make an early referral into the dementia service, so that people could get that preventative intervention that is possible when you manage to identify people early on that journey. The barbers in Cardiff, the postal workers in Cardiff, who we know have those day in, day out interactions on the doorstep, all these are people who we can make helpful to the health service in that prudent healthcare way.