Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Gareth, and it's lovely to see you in person as well. I think it's really important to make sure that the outcomes framework is something that we are very focused on. The whole point here is that we've got to see deliverables at the end of this process. What is absolutely clear is the interrelationship between health and care, as you've pointed out. That is something that we've...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The five-year investment period from April 2022 will ensure that longer-term investment plans can be established and delivered against a framework of set outcomes. To truly demonstrate a partnership approach to integration, the Welsh Government and regional partnership boards have co-produced a tapered approach to investment, with partners expected to sustainably source match resources...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Llywydd. It's great to be back in the Senedd and to see everyone face to face again for the first time in a while.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: In August 2021, I approved a new five-year regional integration fund to support the continued development of integrated health and social care services in Wales. Today, I am pleased to be able to provide more detail on the fund and to officially launch the guidance that my officials have co-produced with regional partnership boards in order to prepare for the launch of the new fund on 1...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Sam. I'm afraid I haven't had a chance to visit Tŷ Gobaith yet, and I very much look forward to doing that, and the same thing with Tŷ Hafan. I'm afraid a pandemic is not the best time to visit hospices, but I very much look forward to having the opportunity to do that and to thank the staff for their incredible work over so many years. You're absolutely right that the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Peredur, and I too would like to thank Tŷ Hafan for all of the work it does, and to wish them a very happy birthday for all the work that they've done over the years. They've transformed people's lives at a time when people are going through the hardest possible ordeal in their lives, and we can't thank them enough for everything they have done for children and their...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Peredur. But just to say, of course we understand that there is a second phase to this, and, obviously, the financial issues associated with this will continue to be explored during that second phase.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Gareth. As you're aware, about 33,000 people die in Wales every year and about 200 of them are children, and I just can't imagine the agony that parents in particular have to go through. That equates to about 90 people per day, but what we do know is that we're going to see an increasing number of people dying because of the demographic profile of the country. So, by 2039,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Rhun. You are right to say that there will be a second phase for the review, and I very much hope that that will take less than a year to complete. What will happen is that a small group will be brought together under the leadership of end-of-life care clinical lead, Dr Idris Baker, and that group will be developing and formulating what the remit for the second phase of...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Mark. Can I thank you for your personal commitment to this very important area? I can't imagine the pressure and the difficulties that so many families have had to face during this extremely difficult time. It's hard enough to lose a loved one at any point, but to try and deal with this in the middle of a pandemic must have ben extremely difficult, in particular, I think,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The review was led by a small team from NHS Wales Health Collaborative, and included analysis of information templates submitted by hospices and interviews. Regular meetings were held with Hospice UK and all hospices to keep them informed of progress with the work. In addition to this, the extent to which statutory funding contributes to voluntary sector services in other UK nations was also...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Okay. Can you see me now?
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. Despite hospices putting emergency fundraising activities in place and reducing non-essential provision, there was still a very high and growing risk that hospice and end-of-life care services could slip into insolvency. That is why the Welsh Government stepped in and allocated almost £14 million of emergency funding to support Welsh hospices throughout the pandemic. This funding...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm making this statement today to update the Chamber on the significant progress the Welsh Government has made to deliver on our important programme for government commitment to review voluntary hospice funding in Wales. Hospices play a critical role in providing essential care to more than 20,000 people in Wales affected by terminal illness each year, and...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Introducing those tests for HPV will enable us to make more—
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Okay. Thank you very much. This should be a good news story for Wales. We can prevent more cases of cancer and detect those that are developing earlier on in the process. It's important to note, as many have done, that a quarter of those who are invited for a screening don't attend their appointments. So, if we can use this issue that we have seen, and the concerns that people have expressed,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: She was asking about the pilot in England. We are watching the pilot in England with interest. We know that we've seen a better response in terms of bowel screening since people have been sent out a FIT test. We've sen an increase in people using that from 60 per cent to 65 per cent. We want to know whether that will be the response in relation to cervical screening for those particular areas...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Now, I understand that many people are concerned that extending the interval between screenings will lead to missing cases of cervical cancer. But I'd like to assure people that HPV causes changes to the cells very slowly over several years, and that means that if there were to be cellular changes, they could be identified early on still in the next screening process. Screening more often...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the debate today. I know that it has really produced some very strong responses from across our communities, and the tone and the passion that we've seen in the debate this afternoon demonstrates that this has touched many, many people. So, I would like to thank people for engaging in the conversation, but clearly there is a need to...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Gareth. I almost encouraged you, didn't I, yesterday, to ask me this question, so I'm very pleased that you have asked me this question, because it gives me an opportunity to say that, actually, the data we've had so far actually suggests that those restrictions were helpful. We've certainly seen a difference in terms of hospitalisation. We're just waiting for that data to...
