, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS at 75
—there are 270 beds per 100,000 people in Wales, says the Nuffield Trust, whereas in England it's 170 beds per 100,000 people. Now, what I will say is that, actually, we are going to see a shift. We're going to see a shift from secondary care into the…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS at 75
Thank you very much. One thing that is unique with our health system is that it doesn’t matter what your background is, it doesn’t matter what your means are, the care is there and is available to you from the moment you’re born to the minute that you die. It…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS at 75
Thanks very much. Today I think is not the day to be indulging in political in-fighting; I think today is the day for us to celebrate the immense achievements of the NHS over 75 years, really understanding the incredible work has been done. The fact is that…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS at 75
The NHS is unrecognisable from its origins in 1948, but remains true to its values. Medical advances mean that babies born at just 24 weeks' gestation now have a chance of survival. But the NHS could not have survived until today if it were not for the…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS at 75
Diolch yn fawr. I am very pleased to take this opportunity to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the NHS. This morning, I had the pleasure of joining representatives from NHS Wales at a multifaith service in Ely to celebrate the wealth of talent and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. I think there is improvement. The fact that performance has improved since December 2022 by 3.4 percentage points and that the 12-hour waits have decreased by 33 per cent means that we're heading in the right direction. Some of the things…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Access to healthcare at the Grange University Hospital has been below where I expect it to be for some time. I have been clear with the health board that this is not good enough and I've set clear expectations of the improvement required.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you very much, Buffy. It's traumatic, going through cancer, and for people who survive cancer, it's not something that ends, you then have to process it all and there are mental health issues you need to deal with. So, I really commend you on that work…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Diolch yn fawr, Buffy. The health board have been placed in targeted intervention for quality issues relating to performance, and this includes cancer. The NHS executive is providing peer support and undertaking a number of interventions. Officials hold…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks. Well, I think the stats that you quoted are important. We're expecting one in two of us to develop cancer at some point in our lives, so making sure that we are clear, first of all, about prevention where possible—and let’s be clear, it’s not possible…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. Listen, I want to pay tribute to Tassia, because I hear that she's done an incredible job of campaigning on this issue. I don't usually and I'm not going to start committing generally to meeting people, but I am on this occasion willing to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
As I set out in my response to the Petitions Committee debate in October, we are focused on NHS planning of services, improving data capture in the new cancer information system and new breast cancer audit, and setting out what should happen for patients in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
I think the first thing to say is that I don't want to pre-empt anything that's going to come from this consultation, and this is only the first phase. The commissioner will consider the outcome of that engagement process. We'll come up with some options for…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Officials, through regular meetings with representatives of EASC, are assured the emergency medical and transfer service's service review engagement process has been comprehensive and transparent. Phase 1 is complete and enabled the public to contribute via…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
So, look, 55 hours is utterly unacceptable. It's utterly unacceptable. We had some issues earlier this week with some very long waits in Wrexham, and immediately we got on to it and tried to clear the system. But, actually, if you look at the overall picture…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. Waiting times for both elective and emergency care have shown improvements over the last year. There's obviously still work to be done, and, as part of the special measures escalation, I've set clear targets for the next 90 days to improve…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. Well, dentistry is quite different from the way that people deal with GPs. So, quite a lot of people want to go to a dentist near, for example, where they work. So, the patterns of where people go are not necessarily close to where they…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you very much. Well, as I said, what's happening is, where people hand contracts back, you have to retender, and what's interesting is that they have been able to get somebody else to take on that contract in Ammanford. They are now redoing the surgery…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you. I am aware that a fairly large contract in Ammanford was handed back to the health board last July. The health board have retendered the contract successfully and the new practice will be opening later this year.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Diolch yn fawr. Well, you'll be aware that there is a worldwide shortage of healthcare workers, so we're in a very competitive market here. And we did have a target for the number of GPs we wanted to train and we exceeded that target last year by 90, and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
So, just in terms of the BMA, and I was very happy to attend that event earlier, I think there are a few things that we need to bear in mind. First of all, actually, 'A Healthier Wales' is very clear about the direction of travel here—it is about the need to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Best of luck to you in your new role. You'll have a lot of work to do.
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Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. Well, I had the very same conversation as you, and, before I go any further, I’d like to welcome you to your new position.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
You're singing from the same hymn sheet as I am on this. Just to give you reassurance, those 30,000 that are on the two-year waiting list include all specialities, including the seven that we know are challenging. So, they're not excluded from the numbers. I…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
On two-year waits, we're expecting 99 per cent of people to be seen by the end of this financial year. We're expecting, by September, anybody waiting over three years to have an appointment, so that they know exactly when they're going to get their treatment…
