26 February 2026 , Health and Social Care Committee
Pre-appointment hearing for the role of Chair of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board: evidence session with the Welsh Government's preferred candidate
Thank you. In terms of the numbers of people across Wales who are staying in hospital unnecessarily and aren't able to leave, the highest percentage, according to the latest statistics I've seen, are in Rhondda Cynon Taf, under your leadership. Over 11 per…
26 February 2026 , Health and Social Care Committee
Pre-appointment hearing for the role of Chair of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board: evidence session with the Welsh Government's preferred candidate
Yes. So, accepting your concerns about waiting lists and looking at the long-term issues, of course, the waiting lists are a symptom. One of the things within that that we know about is what the Government is calling the 'flow' of people going through the…
26 February 2026 , Health and Social Care Committee
Pre-appointment hearing for the role of Chair of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board: evidence session with the Welsh Government's preferred candidate
Thank you. I'm going to ask my questions in Welsh. In terms of the challenges facing the health service in Wales currently, thinking of Aneurin Bevan, but also nationally as we are looking at the health service, what is the biggest challenge, in your view…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Legislative Consent Motion: The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
You referred there to the imperfect process, and, of course, an imperfect process leads to an imperfect law. Would you therefore agree that it would be best to have the process devolved to Wales, so that we could have that proper scrutiny process and that we…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Legislative Consent Motion: The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
To isolate only a handful of clauses rather than examine the Bill as a whole understates its impact on devolved responsibilities. The Senedd is not being given the opportunity to consider those implications properly. That is not how meaningful legislative…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Legislative Consent Motion: The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Thank you, Llywydd. Regardless of my personal views on the moral principles of this Bill that is currently making its way through the UK Parliament, they are not the subject of today's vote. It does not involve deciding whether assisted dying is right or…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
The Regulated Adoption Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) and Adoption Support Services (Local Authorities) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026
I'm supportive of the intention behind these regulations and recognise the rationale for ensuring that the regulatory framework is proportionate and avoids unnecessary duplication, particularly where qualified professionals may already be subject to…
24 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Children and Social Care: Supporting the Social Care Workforce
Social care is the foundation of our health service and is the backbone of our society. At some point in our lives, every one of us will have to depend on it to care for an ageing parent, a partner who is ill, or even to meet our own needs. And when that time…
10 February 2026 , Plenary
Legislative Consent Motion: The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill
More needs to be done to support and strengthen our domestic workforce here. There's no doubt about that. In fact, I remember raising this several years ago now, arguing that we should emulate the apprenticeship academy project at the Hywel Dda Health Board…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
If we, therefore, want to see plans to strengthen accountability, want to strengthen the voice of the patients, want to improve standards, introduce treatment hubs across the area and make better use of the workforce, then we have to support the motion before…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
We heard the Cabinet Secretary talking about some of the statistics about certain improvements, and any improvement is to be welcomed. But, nevertheless, we have targets that are missed time and time again when it comes to Betsi Cadwaladr, and that results in…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
And at the same time, thank you, Rhun. I think Rhun made the important point that we need to remind ourselves of all the time here, that we have a workforce that works hard and under very difficult circumstances, and that is a workforce that is porters and…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
Diolch. I appreciate that, but that speaks to the fact that local authorities are having to deal with a lot of the problems arising from the problems that we have in the health service, because they can't find the care packages required for people leaving…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. And I would say, with your contribution, Gareth, that they were really brave words you said there about bringing it on for a political fight, because I'm not convinced that the Conservatives are in a position to win any political…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
Carolyn, I think, made an important contribution, because, Carolyn, I think you're right: when you talked about I think it was your friend, or someone you knew, who spoke to you about improvement or suggestions for improvement, that's what we've spoken about…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
And Llyr is perfectly right: it was shocking to hear that statistic that Llyr gave us, which reminds us of the scale of the challenge facing us, that so many more people are on waiting lists in Wales, specifically in Betsi Cadwaladr, than is the case over the…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
That's fine, and I'll check the Record, because these are contemporaneous notes that I've taken. I'm pretty clear that's what you said. But nevertheless, I would suggest that you read Plaid Cymru's report, which does talk about the governance across the whole…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
Peter was quite right in pointing out that leadership, and the leadership of Government specifically, is key. It's something we've heard time and time again. And there's no point just pointing the finger of blame at individuals in any one health board if that…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I thank everyone who has taken part in this important debate on health provision and governance in the health board that we have in north Wales.
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
Yes, I think that's a fair charge there. What we have in Wales is a lack of data, and we need improved data to understand what's going on, so that we have better policy and better outcome. But referring to that insourcing, in this instance, ID Medical in…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
Yes.
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
Under this Government, what we have seen is a culture of learned helplessness being allowed to fester and grow. And is it any wonder? Because this is exactly what we get week in, week out in this Chamber from this Government. Instead of demanding better…
4 February 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance
Thank you, Llywydd. Last week, I was walking the streets of Bala, knocking on people's doors and having conversations with people in the town, and one of those houses was Betsi Cadwaladr's own former home. One thinks of those formative years that created the…
4 February 2026 , Health and Social Care Committee
General scrutiny session with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Minister for Children and Social Care and Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
An excellent centre that, to my knowledge, has never been used, and the company that was meant to have been commissioned to run it has gone to the wall. Why are we in this situation? What happens to all of that excellent equipment and resource now, and is…
4 February 2026 , Health and Social Care Committee
General scrutiny session with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Minister for Children and Social Care and Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
'comprehensive range of diagnostic scanners...linear accelerators, 12 bay chemotherapy suites and proton beam therapy'.
