, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS Winter Pressures
Thanks very much, Alun. Certainly, I think there are major, major challenges for the NHS. It's important that we recognise and talk about them and that that's a conversation we need with the public. This is not something that should remain in this Chamber…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS Winter Pressures
Thank you very much. First of all, I think it is important to recognise not just what we've done, but what we intend to do. And you're quite right, just to give you some ideas of where we're going to be going next, we're going to be making sure that we try…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS Winter Pressures
Well, thanks very much, Russell, and a happy new year to you as well. Just in terms of how we compare to England, and I think it's really important, let's look at the figures here, because the Nuffield Trust—this is not us as a Welsh Government—the Nuffield…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS Winter Pressures
We’ve also made significant investments in urgent and emergency care this year, and if we hadn’t, the situation would be a great deal worse. Thanks to early investment made available in June, the Welsh ambulance service has been able to deliver a range of…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: NHS Winter Pressures
Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Thank you for the opportunity to update Members on NHS winter pressures. Members will appreciate this winter is proving to be particularly challenging for health and care services across the United Kingdom. This is our third winter of…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
Diolch yn fawr. Well, I absolutely understand the concern of parents in these very difficult times. When your child is ill and you know that there's a potential that they could get invasive strep A, then you understand why we've seen a huge increase in…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
Thank you. We are working closely with the UK Government, the makers and wholesalers in order to hasten the movement of additional stock in the supply chain as a result of the significant increase in demand. We are also working with health boards and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you. I'm sure that Adam Price will have understood by now that part of the problem in getting people into the hospital is that we can't get them out. So, there are over 1,000 people in our hospitals who shouldn't be there. Part of the problem is because…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
The steps taken to reduce waiting time in A&E and to reduce ambulance response times include creating more ambulance capacity, delivering clinical streaming services, using virtual ward models and enhancement of same-day emergency care services.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
I think there are different models that are appropriate to different areas of Wales. So, one of the things that I saw when I visited Hwb Iechyd Eifionydd was very good work by paramedics. So, what they did was to send local paramedics in—advanced…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Ambulance response time performance is not where we, the NHS or the public would like it to be. We have a national ambulance improvement plan in place, supported by over £3 million of Welsh Government funding. This features national and local actions to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much, Altaf. I think I've responded to a letter from you on this, so I'm surprised that you haven't received that yet, so I'll chase that up immediately after this. But I think what was important for some of the things that came out of that cancer…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much, Huw, and can I thank you for the work that you and the CPG are doing on this really important area? Because one of the key things that we are conscious of all of the time in relation to health is inequality. So, why is it that some people…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
I need the answer. [Laughter.] Thank you. I expect the cancer services action plan—the NHS’s response to our policy expectations set out in 'The quality statement for cancer'—to be published at the end of January in the run-up to World Cancer Day.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. I think that what's really important is that we keep on remembering how many people are actually helped on a monthly basis. What's really interesting for me—. Obviously, I get a lot of people coming up to me and complaining about their…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you. We understand that people are fed up in having to wait so long. Carpal tunnel syndrome is something that an orthopaedic surgeon has to be involved in. I think that it is important that we monitor how much work the orthopaedic surgeons do. It's very…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you. Of course, I understand why people might feel that that is a system—
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
I am pleased to see that the longest waiting times for treatment at Betsi Cadwaladr have fallen and are 21 per cent lower than they were in March 2022. As part of targeted intervention, they are receiving support from the planned care recovery and improvement…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thanks very much. You're absolutely right to highlight the incredible pressure on the emergency services at the moment. As you say, we've seen, this October, the number of red immediately life-threatening calls the highest on record—77 per cent more than in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Welsh Government funding has enabled the Welsh ambulance service to deliver a range of actions to improve ambulance performance, including the recruitment of 100 additional staff, reformed rota arrangements, reductions in sickness absence, and new investment…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you. Well, I'm sure you will understand that, actually, we are very keen to get this under way as soon as possible. We are very aware that we need to increase the numbers of people in training to become medics, but, of course, we have to work within the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you very much. May I say that I was delighted to have met Professor Mike Larvin recently, just to ensure that we are making progress with developments in the university? We are highly aware that we do need to be cognisant of how much recruitment there…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Intake numbers for the Bangor medical school have been approved, and funding has also been approved for 140 students per year once the school reaches optimum capacity. A letter of assurance was sent to General Medical Council colleagues in November to allow…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, look, first of all, I think it's important that I set on record once again that we understand the strength of feeling felt by those people who feel like they've got no other option but to take industrial action. We believe that all our public sector…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Well, it's clear that we spend a great deal of time preparing for winter—we know that there will be pressures during the winter months. They've already started—we've seen how much pressure there was on the services over the past weekend. It doesn't help when…
