Unscheduled care - preparedness for winter 2013/14

In response to sustained pressures felt in unscheduled care services in Wales during 2012/13, the Health and Social Care Committee invited the Minister for Health and Social Services and Deputy Minister for Social Services to a scrutiny session on unscheduled care: preparedness for winter 2013/14 on 9 October 2013.  The purpose of this session was to seek assurances that our health, social and ambulance services can meet the pressures which are likely to build during the Winter 2013/14 on unscheduled care. The Committee identified the following specific issues for consideration:

• whether there has been sufficient progress in delivering the Minister’s immediate priorities to alleviate pressures on unscheduled care and what the current position is;
• examples of effective action that has been taken quickly to relieve the pressures on unscheduled care, particularly in emergency ambulance and acute hospital services;
• the planning and solutions for Winter pressures in 2013/14 including whether there is the right capacity in our hospitals to meet demand;
• whether the necessary measures are in place to alleviate the considerable pressures that demands in unscheduled care can have on the whole system, including whether any additional funds will be targeted at areas under most pressure; and
• the longer-term challenges and plans to improve the position for the future, moving beyond hospital and ambulance services to encompass provision in the community.

Evidence gathering

The Committee took oral evidence from the Minister for Health and Social Services and the Deputy Minister for Social Services on 9 October 2013.

The Committee’s letter

The Committee wrote to the Minister for Health and Social Services and the Deputy Minister for Social Services (PDF, 290KB) in December 2013. The Minister for Health and Social Services responded (PDF, 275KB) in February 2014.