, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
The way the system works is that it's up to the health boards to assess what their staffing needs are. They then ask HEIW to make provision for that. HEIW then looks at what's required across the whole of Wales, and it's they who decide. That's the system…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Chris, would you like to add to that?
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
It's difficult to say exactly what the workforce is, because they work across various disciplines. If you think of the diagnostic pathway, for example, if you put someone into a diagnostic centre, it's not just diagnostics for cancer; they do diagnostics for…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Sure.
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I think that's why we're looking to consolidate in these regional centres, because actually that's where you get the resilience. If you have one or two people who are experts and one of them goes on holiday or goes off sick, then obviously the system is under…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, they have to work regionally because the cancer centres, for example—. We have three major cancer centres and of course that means that it's a requirement, particularly for those who don't have a specialist cancer centre, to work on that regional level…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, what we do of course is to provide funding to the health boards and they decide where that money should be spent in response to the health needs of their particular areas. So, we don't tell them centrally how much they should spend on each condition…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I think that's crucially important, because I do think there is inconsistency in terms of how things work across Wales in terms of cancer. And I think the NHS exec has some work to do in that area, first of all, to carry out an analysis of the data, to look…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
Nick, do you want to add to that?
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I haven't directly discussed that. He hasn't raised the issue with me, but I do think we have to recognise that the NHS exec only commenced its work in April, so we need to allow a little more time to ensure that they know exactly how they will work. In terms…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I'm going to ask Chris to come in a second.
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I think, what we don't want to do is to make things more complex and to have the system have to refer to lots and lots of lots of different overlapping recommendations. We do have a clear statement for cancer, the cancer quality statement, we have a quality…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I think there is recognition that gynaecological cancers are more complex than lots of others, and obviously there are lots of different types of gynaecological cancers that need to be taken into account, and some are more prevalent than others. So, we just…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Gynaecological cancers: evidence session with the Minister for Health and Social Services
I'm afraid I haven't had a chance to look at that, but I'll make a point of making sure that I do. As it happens, in the past week, I have been speaking to people who've had gynaecological cancer and there are issues that need to be improved, so it's…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much, Mark. I think the question is relevant to the question that was asked earlier by Sarah about actually how do we make sure that people, in moving to a digital age, are still able to access services if they're from a community that finds that…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Digital Health and Care Wales is actively working with each GP practice across Wales to assist them in adopting the NHS Wales app, clearly communicating the benefits to the practice. Our phased plan aims to have supported all GP surgeries to connect by the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, thanks very much. You’ll be aware, Hefin, that there is increasing demand for eye health care, and so, if we want to see sustainability in future, we have to do things differently, and shifting that emphasis from secondary care, hospitals, into the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Work is under way through the implementation of new optometry contracted terms of service, which I announced in September last year. The emphasis is on more treatment and care delivered in the community. The Welsh Government is committed to improving…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. Well, I've spent a lot of time trying to see what we can do in relation to digital progress within the NHS. I think this is where it's at in terms of transformation. Obviously, it's very frustrating when you have the kind of financial…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
We recognise the importance of ensuring that all citizens across Wales should be able to have access to their medicines and prescription information in a format that suits them, and the continuing engagement with both vulnerable and non-vulnerable groups…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. You're quite right, it is a challenging time, particularly in relation to capital in the health service, but what we have undertaken is some support in relation to that integration and rebalancing of capital funds, so there is a ring-fenced…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
In my statement yesterday, I set out the progress that has been made since I put Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board back into special measures, and I outlined the support the health board is receiving from the Welsh Government and the NHS executive to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Part of the reason for that expense is that some of those mobile dental units are fitted with bariatric chairs, which, obviously, need to be reinforced and which provide Cardiff with the capacity to treat bariatric patients. So that would, perhaps, explain…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. The figures I've got for Powys are very different in relation to the contract hand-backs in Powys, so, it'd be interesting for us to compare notes on that later. But, what I can tell you is that, of course, the funding is not lost. As I say…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you very much. I'm highly aware of the situation in west Wales. That's one reason why we've offered an additional £5,000, to encourage people to train in areas such as west Wales. But, if we, as a Government, lose that contract, you don't lose the…
