, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Dirprwy Lywydd, the Member said that she's heard it all before; I beg to differ, because what we've put forward today is different from previously, as I've explained. So, I won't go into repeating myself, if you can forgive me for that. But the Member did say…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
The intention or, indeed, the purpose of these extended measures, Dirprwy Lywydd, is to hold the health board—any health board—to account on the delivery of health services. I have set out my expectations of the health board in north Wales clearly in terms of…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Dirprwy Lywydd, I won't repeat what I've said about the difference between what we're promoting here and what we've seen in the past, which is the first point that the Member raised. The Member asked about Donna Ockenden. Donna has done a number of tremendous…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
If I may start with the final point, no, I will not even countenance the idea of allowing a health board from outside of Wales to take over Betsi Cadwaladr, because they work to different rules and regulations. We've got devolution here. We've got our own…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Dirprwy Lywydd, if I start with the final point.
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Dirprwy Lywydd, the Member started by referring to his wife, who works for the board. May I take a moment to thank her and every nurse and midwife working in very difficult circumstances in north Wales? Their work is recognised and appreciated by this…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
The estate, yes, which is what I've just responded to there. In the question on the estate, you asked about whether or not the hubs that we're putting in are going to be permanent. Again, to repeat what I've said previously, we will be clinically led. Some of…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Deputy Llywydd, the Member is right in her critique of the situation where we've got problems in primary care—we'll start there—when it comes to GPs, and that feeds into the problem that we have at, for instance, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, but in fact in Wrexham…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Once again, the Member makes some really important points. I understand also that, as a Member for the north of Wales, he also has an interest in making sure that this works. And he was absolutely right when he started his contribution saying, 'I am…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Thank you for those questions. I agree with a lot of what has been said, because during the committee debates we've had, we've raised these issues about Betsi Cadwaladr, and clearly there's a cross-party issue here in wanting to resolve this. In fact, I…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Importantly, this intervention is designed not only to address immediate performance pressures, but to tackle the underlying causes of repeated failure. It will examine whether the organisation has the leadership capacity, capability and culture needed to…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
This is a serious intervention, reflecting the persistent and unresolved concerns. Previous arrangements have relied on the health board identifying and delivering its own recovery, with support alongside it. That approach has not delivered the scale or pace…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Improving Leadership and Performance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has been in a heightened state of escalation for the past 11 years, with the current level 5 escalation in place since February 2023. Despite significant financial and targeted…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Hospital services and hospital closures
Isn't this what we all want for our own families and aren't we duty-bound as political leaders to fight for the solutions that truly improve survival rates and good health outcomes for patients, rather than just protecting the status quo because that's…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Hospital services and hospital closures
There is a need for an honest conversation about how we ensure our NHS estate keeps pace with modern healthcare. The question we must ask is how we best support our staff with the space, the technology and the environment they need to deliver the absolute…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Hospital services and hospital closures
Thank you, Llywydd. When we talk about change in the NHS, we are talking about something that is extremely personal to every individual in Wales. We are talking about the services that people rely on when they are at their most vulnerable and concerned and…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Hospital services and hospital closures
Formally.
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Delivering on our priorities: Reducing waiting times and strengthening primary care
Llywydd, I'd like to thank the Member for the question. I will answer in part but, forgive me, this sits under my colleague Delyth Jewell's portfolio, so I don't want to step on her toes. But I agree that the legacy that we've been handed from the previous…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Delivering on our priorities: Reducing waiting times and strengthening primary care
I thank Jane for those two questions. The issue around cross-border difficulties has been raised a few times. It was raised just this week and last week too. Bodies have been created in order to look at those cross-border issues, Llywydd, in order to ensure…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Delivering on our priorities: Reducing waiting times and strengthening primary care
Llywydd, the Member is right to say that warm words have been spoken for many years, indeed many decades, about moving services to the primary element. Indeed, there was an MP who was elected in 1966 in Carmarthen, and one of his first speeches in Parliament…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Delivering on our priorities: Reducing waiting times and strengthening primary care
Thank you. The Member raises the point around dentistry. I know from my own experience, with my own casework in the constituency over the last five years, that it is clearly a problem. In fact, we receive a lot of letters from members of the public to the…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Delivering on our priorities: Reducing waiting times and strengthening primary care
Thank you very much for that. Llywydd, the Member makes a particularly important point—that is to say that he clearly demonstrates that the mummy will be reborn under Plaid Cymru and will rise again. But the important point that he makes is that we do need to…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Delivering on our priorities: Reducing waiting times and strengthening primary care
Llywydd, there were a number of very important points there raised by my former colleague on the health committee, and former Chair of the health committee, who clearly understands a lot of these things. The situation in Betsi Cadwaladr is…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Delivering on our priorities: Reducing waiting times and strengthening primary care
So, the Member raises a number of important points, which have been exercised many times in the public sphere over the last couple of weeks. So, I will take this opportunity to answer once again some of the points that have been raised with me in various…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care: Delivering on our priorities: Reducing waiting times and strengthening primary care
Thank you very much. Llywydd, the Member says that he agrees with my proposal and the ideas put forward, so I look forward to seeing the Member and his colleagues supporting the supplementary budget when it comes to a vote in order to ensure that we can…
