Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal Democrats

The Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee's Report on Wheelchair Services

Peter Black: I support all that has been said so far by committee members. I thank the Minister, in particular, for her response to this review She accepts all of its recommendations, which is particularly useful. However, I note that that acceptance depends on the project board's report, but, as she told the committee Chair, she will make a statement in the autumn. It is important that, although the project board is working on many of the committee's recommendations, we try to implement them as quickly as possible. I hope that the project board will be working expeditiously to deliver on that. That is crucial, given that the committee received compelling evidence from service users and from the organisations that have contact with those users, and with ALAC and ALAS-the organisations that deliver the wheelchairs.

The clear impression being given was that, in many places, the service was not fit for purpose, that people are having to wait for an excessively long time, particularly where their needs were complex, and that, in some instances, in terms of repairs and assessments, those delays seemed to be unreasonable in terms of the evidence that we received as a committee. I believe that every committee member was disturbed by that evidence, and felt strongly that something had to be done to put it right. Therefore, I am hopeful that the Minister, in responding so positively to the report, will be able to make a start on that.

Val Lloyd has just referred to the MS Society Cymru briefing paper on this issue. That paper mentions the approach by different social workers, from different local authorities, and the failure to work together at a local level. It is crucial that social services and health services work much more closely together on this issue if we are to resolve the problem of delays, ensuring that everyone understands the process. That must be part of the communication strategy that the committee recommends. Although we have two bodies delivering the service-in the north and the south-some evidence suggested that it might be better to deliver it at a local level. I do not believe that the committee was convinced by that; I certainly was not. However, better working at a local level, with social services departments and with the health boards, would be beneficial for everyone. I would hope that, as part of the project board review of this issue, we will get some progress on that matter.

The other issue of concern that came out of the review-and I believe that several members were concerned by this-was the almost cavalier attitude towards the national service framework for children, young people and maternity services. On several occasions, the organisations that deliver these wheelchairs were asked about the targets in that framework. I believe that their response was inadequate-and I believe that other members thought so too-because they were not taking those framework targets into account. The reason that they gave was that they were not resourced to deliver those targets, but that matter needs to be resolved between ALAS, ALAC and the Ministers. However, in terms of ensuring that that service framework is delivered, it is crucial that they not only deliver on the targets that they set internally, but that they also deliver on the targets in that service framework. We felt that that was lacking in the response to the committee. Again, I hope that the Minister is able to knock some heads together on that issue, to try to sort that out.

The other issue that I wanted to raise, which also came up in the review, was joint funding. I was particularly concerned because I asked the Cardiff ALAC whether it was prepared to fund jointly with individuals. It said that it was not able to do so because the Minister had issued guidance to this effect.

However, later, when the Minister was asked about this, she made it clear to the committee that no such guidance had been issued. It is quite serious that a witness employed in the public sector was able to come to an Assembly committee and give evidence to that effect, which later turned out to be incorrect. It seems that the Minister needs to talk to those individuals to make sure that the information given to committees in such reviews is accurate and that we do not have this blame game where organisations are blaming the Minister-although that is not the case this time-and vice versa. We must work together to deliver this service.

The point about joint funding is important in terms of individuals being able to contribute to the cost of repairs and towards the cost of the wheelchair, through a direct payment system perhaps. Perhaps the Minister could look at this issue as part of her review.