, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, thanks very much, and, obviously, the pandemic meant that GPs started to work in a different way, and I think lots of the public have welcomed this new way and new approach. So, we're not going to go back to a position where we insist that everybody is…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you. Of course, we do hope that things like developing the medical school in north Wales will help and, of course, there will be an opportunity for people to do their practical work in places like Tywyn. And it's good to see that there's been a…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Statistics about the GP workforce are published on StatsWales. The latest snapshot, on 30 June, shows that there were 2,301 fully qualified GPs, which represents a full-time equivalent of 1,562. This includes partners, providers, salaried physicians…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. You'll be aware that osteoporosis is a very common and debilitating condition. About 18 per cent of the Welsh population are living with it, which is an incredibly high number. In fact, one in two of you over 50 around here are likely to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
The Welsh Government is committed to supporting those living with bone health conditions in Wales, and improving provision for people with osteoporosis is a priority. My written statement issued in February sets out our expectations that fracture liaison…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. I think it is important that we embrace new innovations where there's a clinical indication that they are helpful. Obviously, we need to balance that off against our ability to pay for them. But in this space, we have actually spent a lot of…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
We have a diagnostic target that no-one should wait over eight weeks. The health board is finding it particularly challenging to meet this in Swansea, where 70 per cent of those waiting over eight weeks are waiting for a diagnostic endoscopy. The health board…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
I'm certainly not going to agree to a call for a public inquiry, because I think we need to get on with the job. A public inquiry is going to distract people from the job that needs to be done. What I would argue is that, actually, this is a fresh start. For…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much, Rhun. Obviously, you're speaking to very different people from those that I've been speaking to, because, actually, I've had lots of people say that the step that I took was the step that needed to be taken. In fact, yesterday, I spoke to a…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you very much, and I know that people in your area do feel very strongly about this issue, and it's evident that their voices have been heard, and I'm sure that they will be eager to respond to the consultation that will start at the end of the month…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. Obviously, I know you'll be pleased that the current organisation configuration will be in place until 2026 and that a seven-year contract has been issued to Gama Aviation, but you're quite right, within the contract, there is a possibility…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
I've noted the announcement made by the Wales air ambulance service. The Wales Air Ambulance Charity is an independent organisation, which does not receive any direct funding from the Welsh Government. As such, decisions regarding the configuration and…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Well, I think what we need to do is to see how this works and then make an assessment at that point.
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
I think it's protecting us from a potential disbenefit—that's what we're doing here, more than anything else. We're just making sure that we have the opportunity to allow people to tender and to have less of a barrier to tender for some of those contracts…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Okay. We will be producing a regulatory impact assessment, so that certainly will be a part of it. Leanne, can you give more details, or Dafydd?
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Yes, we will be complying with the normal processes, obviously, and with best practice in Welsh Government. I think it's always important for us to learn as we go along, so there will be a loop back to make sure that we're learning.
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Absolutely, yes. So, that's the real danger: people may not want to tender for Welsh contracts if we were under a different system.
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
Absolutely, which is why we're kind of working on the assumption that what we'll be working towards is a level playing field, but we want the flexibility, if they land somewhere where we really, really don't like it, that we don't have to follow them. But…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
A 12-week—. Yes.
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
It depends when they finish in England. So, the timetable is around October, isn't it?
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
I think—. It depends when they finish.
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
So, as soon as we know where they've landed in terms of the regulations in England, we can then go out to consultation on those. Again, we're not necessarily signing up at that point, we're going out to consultation on the principles, and people will know…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
A key thing for me is that—and this is one of the things, obviously, we will be consulting on—actually, what are the principles that we're looking for here. Irrespective of the detail of the regulations, what are we trying to do in terms of principles? What…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
I think that's precisely where the cost savings could come in—that actually you wouldn't need necessarily to go out to tender quite so regularly if somebody is providing a service with which you're happy. But obviously, again, all of that's going to be in the…
, Finance Committee
Financial Implications of the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill: Evidence session
It'll be much easier for us to do that once we know what the regulations look like, and that's the time when we'll be doing that financial impact assessment that we're talking about. It's just too difficult to do that without knowing what the detail says and…
