Hefin David is the Labour Senedd Member for the Caerphilly constituency.

I have been in touch with a number of constituents this month in relation to hospital appointments, social care services and access to GPs.

While we are coming through the other end of the pandemic, this means picking up the backlog of appointments which were put on hold due to coronavirus. This, coupled with staff shortages due to isolation, as well as the usual winter illnesses, is putting a huge strain on these services. 

I have been advised by the health board that people should still be able to access face to face appointments with their GP, wherever necessary. However, we all have a part to play in seeking care from the appropriate service.

When asked about this recently, the First Minister said: “There are many other members of the primary care team – physiotherapists, pharmacists, occupational therapists, paramedics – who are equally capable clinically of providing a service to many people who go to primary care, and that team approach to the delivery of services is one we will continue to promote to secure the long-term health of primary care services in Wales.”  

I have since asked him whether Welsh Government would consider an expert-led review of how we contact our GPs in Wales, to try and get a reliable system for the benefit of patients. I will share the response when it is received. 

I am in ongoing talks with the health board about the problems locally, but this is a challenge affecting services across the whole of Wales.

Welsh Government has published a Winter Plan to guide us through the coming months, which you can read about here: gov.wales/health-and-social-care-winter-plan-2021-2022 

This will include an extra £42m Welsh Government funding allocated for social care, some of which will be used to help ease the pressure on hospital beds. This comes on top of £248m already announced for the NHS Covid recovery fund.

This investment in social care will be used to improve hospital patient discharges, expand community services and reduce hospital re-admissions among more vulnerable patients, in an effort to ease pressures on bed capacity. There will also be an effort to recruit more care workers in Wales.

I fully appreciate the frustrations around access to services at the moment and am happy to raise individual cases for any constituent who contacts me: Hefin.David@senedd.wales. But please remember to be kind and patient with NHS staff. They are currently working under great pressure and will be doing all they can to help us stay healthy this winter.

Hefin