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Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Assisted dying
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to begin by thanking Julie Morgan for tabling this important debate today and, if I may, everybody who has contributed. It's almost a decade since we last discussed assisted dying in the Senedd. It is a topic that is as…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
I thank the Member for that important question. I think it is absolutely fair to say that the health board have found diagnostic waiting times a real challenge. In my periodic meeting with the chair, we discussed that very question and I'm absolutely clear…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Reducing waiting times is a priority for this Government, and we are working with the health board to ensure that they prioritise cancer and urgent referral for gastroenterology and then focus on the diagnosis and treatment of the longest waiting patients.
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
I will absolutely celebrate the work that he is referring to in his question, and it is really important that we use those opportunities to highlight the risks in the way that this set of questions is doing today, and that that happens at a local health board…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
I thank the Member for those remarks and that question, including his reminder to me of my age. I thank him for that. It is absolutely critical in the way that the Member identified in his question to recognise how important it is to detect cancer early…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Men concerned about their risk of prostate cancer should request an appointment with their GP to discuss their concerns and come to an informed decision about further investigation. There is publicly available guidance to support men and GPs to have that…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Well, I thank Delyth Jewell for the question and for the way that she's highlighted the work of Claire's Campaign, which I would absolutely wish to associate myself with, and the work that Claire and her colleagues are doing to highlight challenges in the…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Thank you for that further question. I’m not myself aware of any discussions of that sort. The Government does invest heavily in cancer services, as the Member would expect, given the level of priority that we attach, and I know that she attaches, to good…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Our approach is set out in the quality statement for cancer, and the NHS set out what action it will take in the cancer improvement plan. For example, this includes our investment in a new breast centre of excellence at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr.
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Member raises an important question, and I absolutely agree with the thrust of his question, which is, we know—. In fact, we’ve seen this most recently with the Darzi report for the NHS in England, haven’t we, that the increasing ability of the NHS to…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Yes. Our vision in 'A Healthier Wales' is for people to have equity of access to an increasing range of community services to support them to stay well and live independently. We expect local partners to collaborate to build community capacity and design and…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Well, the Member will know that I made an announcement, probably three weeks ago, which set out the arrangements that we are putting in place for a group of people with significant experience in reducing waiting lists. They will be tasked with identifying the…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
I refer the Member to the publication that the Government made—I think, probably, two weeks ago, or a little under that at this point—which sets out the level of activity in terms of people from Wales treated in England and people from England treated in…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Member’s interest in the process at the expense of output is rather striking. [Laughter.] But, to answer his question, what was new was the willingness that we see from a Government in Westminster to work with a Labour Government here in Wales in an open…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Member is correct to say that the effect of poverty, especially on the early years, can very often cause lifelong challenges and the NHS is there to support those individuals, but they are broader societal challenges in the way that the Member…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Well I, too, read the report to which the Member refers in her question, and I welcomed its publication because it casts a light on the question of funding allocations on practices that serve more deprived areas. We will as a Government continue to engage…
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Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Well, 53 years on from the establishment of the concept of the inverse care law by Julian Tudor Hart and also Brian Gibbons who, of course, went on to become a Member of this Senedd, very sadly this law remains too often a reality right across the UK. The…
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Topical Questions
I thank Luke Fletcher for that, and I absolutely endorse the points that he made about thanking the staff for working in these very difficult circumstances not of their making. That is obviously going to be incredibly challenging. And thank you as well to the…
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Topical Questions
As I made clear in my answer to the previous question, the responsibility for the condition of the estate that they manage is that of the health board. We make available capital funding to the health boards in order to be able to address key concerns as they…
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Topical Questions
I’m grateful to you, Dirprwy Lywydd. The damage to the roof of the Princess of Wales Hospital is, unfortunately, the latest example of that. Our capital budget this year is worth up to around 8 per cent less in real terms than expected at the time of the…
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Topical Questions
I will specifically answer the question in relation to the Princess of Wales Hospital, since that is the nature of the question that Members have placed on the floor of the Chamber. What we have seen is the impact of a decade and more of austerity in…
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Topical Questions
The survey results were made known to the health board shortly before the declaration of the incident was made on 10 October, and my officials are in discussion, through the capital team of the Welsh Government. They’re fully linked in with colleagues at the…
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Topical Questions
As the Member will know, health boards are responsible for the safe operation and management of their estate, and this includes identifying key risks in terms of patient and staff safety and building conditions. The health board are now looking at all the…
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Topical Questions
A serious incident was declared by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board on 10 October. Following a detailed structural survey, the health board are developing the strategy to replace the oldest section of the roof at pace. Immediate action to ensure…
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Short Debate: Filling the gaps: The case for training dentists in Bangor
I appreciate the Member’s passion, which is well-established and repeated again in the Chamber today, and if she would allow to me say so, I appreciate as well the well-researched argument for the case for a second dental school in north Wales, offering…
