Wales’ health service preparing for “significant strain” of winter pressures

New health secretary Jeremy Miles set out plans to ensure Wales’ health service is prepared for the “significant strain” of winter pressures.

Mr Miles said planning for winter is a year-round task that begins in early spring to learn lessons from the season just past.

He told the Senedd: “We are anticipating that this winter will be another challenging one for a number of reasons.”

Mr Miles said the Welsh Government has increased funding for frontline NHS services by more than 4% but financial pressures remain, particularly for councils.

He warned: “NHS and care services have seen unrelenting demands for services throughout the year, and there are high levels of delayed discharges in our hospitals….

“And we know that the seasonal mix of respiratory viruses, which includes Covid, will place services under significant strain.”

‘Waves of infections’

Mr Miles pointed out that the Welsh Government has published a scientific report, modelling scenarios for winter, to help the NHS plan for the potential impact of viruses.

He said the children’s flu vaccination programme is under way, with Covid and flu vaccination for adults set to begin on October 1.

The health secretary warned: “In the years since the pandemic, we have seen a decline in the number of eligible people coming forward for these vaccinations.

“The pandemic phase may be over but, unfortunately, we haven’t seen the back of Covid yet. It continues to cause waves of infections that can cause serious illnesses for some.”

Mr Miles said another key focus is building capacity in primary and community care.

‘Phenomenal’

In a statement to the Senedd, the health secretary cautioned that GP practices in Wales receive 2.3 million calls in a typical month.

“This is a phenomenal amount of activity for a population of just over three million,” he said, stressing the importance of increasing capability in other local services such as pharmacies.

Mr Miles, who was appointed this month, said he has been clear with health boards and councils about the need to ensure people can leave hospital as soon as clinically able.

He told the debating chamber or Siambr: “Delayed discharges can create poorer outcomes for people kept in hospital longer than they need to be, knock-on delays at the front door of hospitals and inside emergency departments, and ambulances queuing outside.”

He said health boards were given an extra £2.7m this year to deliver against the priorities.

‘Breaking point’

Sam Rowlands, the Conservatives’ shadow health secretary, pointed out that winter pressures are predictable and occur every year.

He said: “A health service that struggles in the spring and summer is clearly going to be at absolute breaking point in the winter.”

Mr Rowlands raised concerns about more than 100 GP surgery closures in Wales since 2012, “which has greatly damaged primary and preventative care”.

Criticising Labour’s decision to scrap universal winter fuel payments, Mabon ap Gwynfor said a third of excess winter deaths can be attributed to cold homes.

Plaid Cymru’s shadow health secretary raised concerns about proposals to shut the minor injuries unit at Prince Philip Hospital overnight and cut community beds in Carmarthenshire.

‘Borderline torture’

Tory MS James Evans criticised plans for a six-month temporary overnight closure of minor injury units in his Brecon and Radnorshire constituency over the winter months.

“All I am seeing is more and more services being taken away,” he said, arguing more people will be pushed to A&E departments which will pile pressure on the NHS.

Jane Dodds, the Liberal Democrats’ leader in Wales, criticised the withdrawal of winter fuel payments and the two-child benefit cap.

The Conservatives’ Peter Fox warned that councils faced a £260m hole in social care needs last year, with the Welsh Government providing about 10% of that.

His colleague Laura Anne Jones raised the case of a constituent waiting 24 hours in an ambulance outside A&E, the longest wait on record at the Grange hospital in Gwent.

“This can only be described as borderline torture,” she said. “24 hours waiting in the back of an ambulance is simply not acceptable.”

By Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter