Welsh Labour

Speeches and questions

Speeches and questions in Plenary and in committees, newest first. The Llywydd's and deputies' chairing of Plenary is left out.

2,975 speeches and questions

10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
We have a plan for seasonal variation, and there's an expectation that that is built into the annual plan. And within that annual plan, you need to demonstrate what your plan is for the winter, because the winter's always going to be difficult. It's a health…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
One of the first tasks for me is to make sure that we prevent the waiting lists from growing, and I think there's evidence to suggest that we're heading in the right direction on that. The November statistics were very good—we grew by 0.4 per cent, which was…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. We're in a situation now where we're obviously waiting for the integrated medium-term plans to come from the local health boards. I've made it very clear to them this morning that they need to think radically, that they need to think…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, it's not new that we're competing for quality staff. This is not a pandemic issue; this has been an issue in the health services not just in the UK, but throughout the globe. We have been very successful in attracting huge numbers of people to work in…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, I am concerned about that. I'm certainly concerned about the fact that, if you see more people using the private sector, then it makes it more difficult to make the case for the NHS in terms of taxes that you levy and so on. So, it is vital for me that…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, I suppose part of the difference would be that people in parts of England have more money, so they can purchase assistance from the private sector, and there is less money available for them to go private in Wales. So, that might go some way to…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, that's a discussion that needs to be had, and it's one that I'm trying to have on a regular basis. The inequality emerges in terms of those travel requirements, so that's where we need to give the focus to ensure that people who don't have access to a…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I don't think so. I think that health boards are ready to purchase in that capacity, wherever it might be, if it's going to be a service that is going to be of assistance to them. For example, I know that Hywel Dda health board has been purchasing capacity in…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, as you say, some health boards have ideas about the extent to which they want to ensure that they provide a fair service to the people they represent, but, if it goes above a certain threshold or amount, then clearly they will come to us to ask for…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
That certainly is a fair question. One of the issues that we have at the moment is the fact that we have very little capital to invest. If we want to move swiftly and if we want something that is going to continue for the long term, I do think that we will…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you very much, Rhun. I think it's important to make it clear, politically of course, that we prefer to see people being treated by the NHS, and certainly, if we do use the private sector, anything we want to see happening should be in the short term…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks.
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I think the other thing is that, actually, we've learnt a lot during the pandemic. So, you'll know that we've rolled out the 111 service, which, once Cardiff gets on board—and I keep on pushing them to get on board—will be an all-Wales 111 service. Then we've…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, it's interesting because this is something that came up in the meeting this morning, and, in fact, the chief executive of Hywel Dda did elaborate a bit on how resource intensive it had been—hugely successful, but very resource intensive, in particular…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
So, Jack, I think we're on a really difficult tightrope here because, clearly, we need to manage expectations, and we've made it clear that we don't think we're going to be able to clear the backlog to what it was pre-pandemic until the end of this Senedd…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I think that's absolutely right, Mike, and one of the things that I've done now is I've given some clear indications to the chairs of the health boards about what my personal priorities are, and that includes things like getting an understanding that we are…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Look, we're very clear on that, and I don't think that we would disagree with that. I think it's really important that we try and get people to understand that, actually, they've got to help themselves as well; that people can't give you a pill and make…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much, Mike. Look, I think we’ve got to get the Welsh public to understand that the model is going to change. So, what happened before, we’re not going back to that. We are very keen to change the way we do primary care. Giving services at…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks. Well, this would be an example where I would see the regional partnership board being absolutely instrumental. So, we've just announced the new funding, £144 million in this space, and hospital at home is an example where we need to get the NHS and…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks, Mike. We've developed this programme with the Red Cross, and that's a model to support patients whilst they're waiting. Obviously, there are a lot of them. What we're trying to do now is to test how effective that model is, but we've got to make sure…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
So, this was all set out in 'A Healthier Wales', and let's not forget that the recommendations came from the parliamentary review that was giving us advice on how best to do this. It was trying to recognise that, actually, you need to avoid duplication. So…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I think this is an example of where, actually, the third sector absolutely comes into its own. So, Joyce, if you could write to me about that, it may be, if it's a particular type of cancer—. There are experts in particular areas, so if you can just give me a…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks, Joyce. Certainly, it was a very sobering debate yesterday in the Plenary, and I'm absolutely determined to give cancer the attention and the focus that it certainly needs. We're clearly not hitting our targets at the moment, but I think it's really…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Yes. Well, I'm hoping it's going to be a very, very short Bill. So, that's my opening line. I think it's something that we'll be going out to consultation on next month—so, in March—and we're hoping that it will be introduced into the Senedd in September, and…
10 February 2022Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment and Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Plan 2021 to 2022: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much, Joyce, and I don't go out very often these days, but, when I do go out, I inevitably bump into somebody who's waiting for some kind of orthopaedic operation and they are in pain. I am intensely aware of the fact that we need to get cracking…