The cost of providing Consultant Connect

Dr Robin Spacie, on behalf of MLMC, put in a request to the Welsh Government for information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) regarding how much Consultant Connect has cost per year for the last 5 years and how many completed calls are made on Consultant Connect per year for the last 5 years, across Wales in total and for each health board.

The costs given are:

Year	Cost
2020-21	£453,600.00
2021-22	£693,755.00
2022-23	£742,774.20
2023-24	£792,003.00
2024-25	£758,832.80

Health board and total numbers of calls and messages from 2020- to end of financial year 2024/25 are available in Appendix A within the full document available below.

Consultant Connect FOI November 2025.pdf

Download PDF • 426KB

Phlebotomy waiting times

The LMC has had numerous meetings with SBUHB regarding the unacceptable waiting times for phlebotomy (blood test) appointments. SBUHB acknowledging that the Health Board shares the LMC's serious concerns. The main issues highlighted in these meetings include:

• Staffing Crisis: Since April, there has been a cumulative turnover of approximately 10 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) staff, affecting both primary and secondary carem services. This has been compounded by HB’s recruitment policy.

• Patient Impact: The staff shortage has led to very poor patient experiences, particularly for vulnerable patients and those on cancer pathways. These concerns have been escalated to the Chief Executive via correspondence from MPs and MSs (Welsh Government) and patients themselves.

• Historical Problem: The Health Board has had this problem before, and the current, temporary fixes are not sustainable or future-proofed.

• National waiting time initiatives and the increasing requirements to monitor medication have impacted demand. 

The HB has resolved to take the following immediate & Short-Term Actions:

• Recruitment Drive: RP has signed off on 5.5 WTE posts for recruitment, with interviews held on November 20th and 21st. Candidates will undergo rapid onboarding including being pulled early, where possible, from their notice periods.

• Redeployment: The secondary care phlebotomy offer at Neath Port Talbot will be reviewed and rationalised to free up capacity. Capacity will be redeployed to the primary care phlebotomy offer.

• Short-Term Staffing Boost: Shifts are being offered to anyone qualified to take blood, including medical and nursing students, as a short-term measure to boost capacity.

• Service Relocation: The phlebotomy service, recently moved to a new, non-ideal location within Singleton Hospital and will be moved again within Singleton to allow for extra chairs and improved patient throughput.

SBUHB is keen to work with the LMC to design a sustainable, future-proofed, 3-5 year model for the phlebotomy service, noting that recent data from 2 years ago indicated that approximately 12K blood tests were taking place in practices and not being claimed for. It should also be noted that the Welsh Government have an agenda to transform the phlebotomy service illustrating that it is a national area of concern.

Please continue to datix related issues and contact us regarding your concerns about this important patient safety issue. 

Learning Disabilities Questionnaire

You may get a questionnaire about learning disabilities from the health board which asks for information over your contractual obligations.

The contractual requirements for monitoring are clearly defined:

• Total number of patients on the LD register.

• Number of health checks offered.

• Number of health checks completed.

The questionnaire asks for considerably more granular information, including staff training percentages, the availability of read easy materials, and a detailed breakdown of reasonable adjustments (e.g., direct phone lines, specific spaces for carers, outreach capacity).

Gathering this level of detail would be entirely voluntary for the practice but not contractual.

Can we also bring to your attention that a tile is now available in PCIP: Learning Disabilities Health Checks - Tile in the Primary Care Information Portal

Following the transfer of the requirements of the Directed Supplementary Service (DSS) for Learning Disabilities (LD) into ‘unified’ services in the GMS contract 2025/26, an Audit+ module was deployed to Practices to support the monitoring requirements that all Practices are required to provide:

1. The total number of patients on the LD register

2. number of health checks offered

3. number of health checks completed

The Audit+ module whilst supporting Practices with day-to-day activities also submits aggregate data (to support contractual requirements) which we are pleased to say is now available and presented within the Primary Care Information Portal