SHA Cymru Amendments to Welsh Labour Draft Policy Document
Health and Social Care section
- Throughout the document ‘COVID’ should be changed to ‘COVID 19’ as COVID refers to several different viruses.
- Page 13 At the end of ‘CONTEXT’ after line 22, add ‘Welsh Government believes that the time has come for the main components of adult social care in Wales to be brought under public control, stewardship, or ownership and funded broadly on the same basis as the NHS. Domiciliary care services should be brought under the purview of local authorities first’.
- Page 13 Line 29 add replace ‘care’ with ‘social care’.
- Page 14 At the end of TECHNOLOGY, line 20 add ‘In all this however we must address the problem of digital exclusion, by using evidence based ‘hybrid’ approaches to health and social care provision and ensuring no one is ‘left out’.
- Page 14 Under WORKFORCE, line 26 following ‘terms and conditions’ add ‘to achieve national standards across Wales for social care staff within the next Welsh Labour Government term’.
- Page 14 Line 31 after ‘future’, add ‘To address increasing inequalities in health, we will recruit enough additional general medical practitioners to reduce average list sizes to 1 wholetime equivalent GP per 1400 patients, starting in the primary care clusters where numbers are lowest and need greatest. We will provide greater diversity of employment opportunities for general practitioners within NHS Wales. Where the traditional GP contractor model is failing to deliver these numbers, health boards need to take the lead in directly employing multi- professional primary care team members, including well supported salaried GPs with a clear career pathway.
- Page 14 Under UNPAID CARERS, line 37 after ‘NHS’ add ‘and social care’.
- Page 15 Under SPECIALIST HEALTH SERVICES, line 4 after ‘artificial intelligence’ add ‘and contribute to research’.
- Page 15 Line 17, at end of sentence add ‘Bodies such as Health and Care Research Wales should invest in AI research in Welsh higher education institutions, committing to undertaking this roll out of AI solutions ethically, while investing in important sectors in Wales.
- Page 15 Under WORKING TOGETHER, line 19, remove first sentence and replace with ‘In line with consultation responses we will deepen integration between social care, personal and public health services. We will legislate for the appointment of a shared Director of Public Health across health boards and local authorities within each Regional Partnership Board area’.
- Page 15 Line 22, after ‘NHS Wales’ add ‘and for social care in Wales’.
Education and Lifelong Learning section
- Page 17 line 34 insert two new paragraphs headed:
“Support for Pupils”
Welsh Labour is committed to increase eligibility for free school meals to all children whose parents are in receipt of Universal Credit. We will also extend free breakfast club provision to every maintained primary school in Wales. We will expand the School Holiday Enrichment Programme across all holidays and to all children that would benefit from the scheme. This will support recovery from educational loss and increased health inequalities caused by Covid-19.
School Food Standards
We will set standards for all school meals in line with our Eat Well guide. This will apply to all schools’ meals whether outsourced or provided directly by the school or by the local authority.
- Page 18, line 15, after ‘undertaking this work’. Insert:
“Schools will offer experiential food literacy education to equip pupils with essential life skills and knowledge”.
Environment section
14.Page 25, line 39
After ‘broadly.’ add ‘We will Include universal access to healthy, affordable food as a national indicator, and monitor data on food security and nutrition for vulnerable population groups to assess the effectiveness of policies and programmes.’
Page 26, line 5 Add ‘We will create a Welsh Food Commission to direct and monitor a cross departmental food strategy across education, agricultural, environment, health, economy, and society. We will also support co-operative solutions for food processing and distribution such as food hubs to foster local economies, support SME and co-operative producers, reduce the environmental impact of transportation and enable better use of resources We will support fresh food co-operatives and community initiatives, and make land available for community growing.’
Equalities, Housing, Welsh Language and Local Government section
- Page 30 after line 33 insert new paragraphs.
During Covid-19, councils, community initiatives and food operations demonstrated what benefits can be achieved when we work together and co-ordinate action in ensuring food access. To embed that extraordinary effort, we support the appointment of local food champions and the development and co-ordination of locally based approaches to food access, including support for community food projects.
The public service approach being taken during the pandemic has allowed for partnerships at a local level which both responded to the leadership provided by the Welsh Government and to the local challenges faced by front line services. These partnerships should be maintained and refined as important community assets to promote local well-being. Therefore, Wales should consider creating a permanent “Wales Health and Care Reserve” (WHACR) comprising ex-health and social care staff and other volunteers with a wide variety of skills that can be refreshed through updating training on a regular basis, and who can be called upon in an emergency to assist full- time staff. This reserve should be organised on a neighbourhood or Cluster basis to support community clinical and care networks. It should be supported by schemes such as the Duke of Edinburgh award and the Welsh Baccalaureate. Established voluntary bodies with a relevant skill base should be encouraged to become involved.’