James Evans has sought an assurance from the Welsh Government that people from Powys who need elective surgery in England can get it.
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00:00that short term while they're recruiting.
00:01James Evans.
00:02DR Cloweth.
00:03First Minister, as you're well aware, Powys Teaching Health Board did have proposals to
00:08stop elective surgery and slow down elective surgery across the border in England.
00:13I'm very pleased, as well as others in this Chamber, that that proposal was shelved by
00:17the health board.
00:18However, that health board does remain in special measures due to financial difficulties,
00:23so the problems haven't gone away, and there's still some anxiety within the communities
00:27within my constituency, and I know in Russell George's constituencies as well, that this
00:31proposal might come round again.
00:33So I'm just interested to hear from you what discussions is the Cabinet Secretary and yourself
00:38having with Powys Teaching Health Board to make sure that there is money available to
00:42make sure that people who are accessing care in England can get that care when they need
00:46it and not forced away unnecessarily on waiting lists?
00:49Well, thanks very much.
00:50We're very pleased that the health board decided not to go through with those proposals, and
00:56I know that there are ongoing discussions between the health Secretary and Powys Health
01:02Board to make sure that they are able to not only deliver for the people of Powys, but
01:08also to deliver within the budget constraints that we've set out.
01:12We have bailed out health boards year after year.
01:16That time is finished.
01:18They need to manage their finances much better, because otherwise every other department has
01:25to bail them out.
01:26Enough.
01:27That's not happening any longer, and it's really important that Powys takes that seriously.
01:32They're having to make very difficult decisions.
01:33We understand that.
01:35The demands on the health service at the moment are really enormous, but I was very pleased
01:41to see that they pulled back from that suggestion that they were going to follow.