…onse to support improvement. We expect health boards to take ownership and immediately reduce ambulance patient handover delays while working with social care services to improve timeliness of patient transfers home from hospital. Performance improved against the four-hour and twelve-hour standards and the average (median) time spent in emergency departments shortened slightly. September saw the best performance against the four-hour standard sinc…

…re. As an example, October saw the highest number and proportion of ‘red’/ immediately life threatening calls on record. A further indication of the complexity of patient need is the number of patients admitted to the same or a different hospital following attendance at a major emergency department, which was 27.1% higher than September 2022. Whilst we acknowledge ambulance performance is not where we expect it to be, we are driving improvements,…

…fore, in addition to the winter assay, Public Health Wales has adopted the latest Allplex variant assay tests in response to the evolving pandemic and public health needs. Seegene’s multiplex, real-time PCR testing system allows detection of 20 different S gene mutations and the RdRP gene in six tubes. Seegene’s automated solution offers an efficient workflow process providing users with high throughput testing and short turnaround times. Commenti…

…ve made a number of direct appointments to ensure board stability over the coming 12 months. The new team – to be led by Dyfed Edwards, a former leader of Gwynedd Council and the deputy chair of the Welsh Revenue Authority, supported by three Independent Members– will undertake the statutory roles of the board chair, vice chair and independent members. They will review executive leadership arrangements and take the necessary decisions for improvem…

…or of Health and Care Research Wales, Professor Kieran Walshe said: “We welcome the news that clinics are now opening in Wales as part of this pioneering programme. During the pandemic we saw the power of a collective effort to find solutions to tackle COVID-19. Our Future Health galvanises the same power by asking volunteers across Wales to participate, to better understand a range of health conditions which will lead to prevention, earlier diagn…

…thcare Science at Swansea University and a member of the Health and Care Research Wales Faculty, is researching the impact of nurses adding a focused scan of the heart and lungs during their home visits to older people in the Neath Port Talbot area. Dr Rees has also been selected for this year’s highly sought-after Welsh Crucible development programme. This brings together researchers from across Wales for a series of workshops exploring how colla…