FMQ on Social Services

Janet Finch-Saunders AM

First Minister, key aims in the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 are integrated consistency and co-operation in the delivery of services, yet the reality in Wales, here, is that there are 34 per cent of patients waiting well over six weeks for transfer home from an NHS bed. I know first-hand, from many casework issues arising, and indeed from recent personal experience, that the communication link between the health and social care practitioners is actually very poor and often leads to delays and a lack of provision of services for when people return home, often quite vulnerable. A joined-up approach in terms of occupational therapy, physiotherapy and district nurse care is essential, but very rarely available joined up. Through your three-year evaluation of this Act, how will you address these barriers in order to meet the pledges contained within your Government’s Act, to make it meaningful and relevant to those very people who desperately depend on it?

Carwyn Jones AM - The First Minister

Well, we saw the level of delays reduce by 7.6 per cent in April, and a further 2.6 per cent fall was reported in May. The number of patients delayed in acute beds also fell in May: down 7 per cent on the previous month. There was a significant decrease in the number of patients waiting to leave mental health facilities: a 20 per cent decrease. Provisions in the Act—the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act, that is—will ensure far more collaborative working between health and social services, which I’m sure all parties want to see. The regional partnerships, led by health boards, will ensure that fewer and fewer people have to wait longer than they need before they can leave hospital.