Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I'm not refusing to engage. In fact—
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: No. I'll answer the question if you'll let me. I'm not refusing to engage, I've got a meeting scheduled for the end of this month with all of the trade unions and they all want to talk about pay. So, I don't have a problem with that and I don't know where you've got that information from.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, I can tell you nobody wants it less than me. I'm very worried about nurses going on strike in the middle of a very difficult winter. I understand their position, and I'm in a situation where I am trying to engage with trade unions. So, I met with the Royal College of Midwives this morning and pay came up, obviously, as an issue. I also had meetings with Unite representatives on Monday....
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Making the faecal calprotectin test available to all GPs in Wales is a key action for the inflammatory bowel disease programme. Good progress is being made in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board area, as well as in other health boards across Wales.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Sarah, and thank you for attending that event last week, which I thought was very useful. The Royal College of General Practitioners have funded an inflammatory bowel disease spotlight project, and that happened between 2017 and 2022. This produced really useful resources for those people in primary care, and those resources are still available on the royal college of GPs'...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I think shining a spotlight on this is really important. That's one of the ways to make sure that GPs know about the resources that are available so that they can look for those symptoms and just be more aware. So, I think that's really important. And, as you say, we've got to differentiate between the two conditions, and it's really important. I think it's worth saying that the kind of bowel...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Powys Teaching Health Board is responsible for providing services to its population. We're working with the health board on business cases for both the north Powys well-being development and refurbishment works at Llandrindod Wells hospital.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I understand the strength of feeling on this, in particular in Montgomeryshire and in north Wales, where the air ambulance bases are based at the moment. This is an independent charity. It's an independent charity, and what you have asked us to do is to make sure that the data and the presentation is available. Now, my understanding is that that presentation has been offered to Senedd Members...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, and thank you for your perseverance on this issue. I think it is really important. It's quite marked, though, that, actually, what I've noticed is that the number of people complaining has actually reduced slightly recently, and part of the reason for that is because the new contract reform system is starting to bite. So, the contract reform system that we introduced, 90...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Hywel Dda University Health Board is responsible for the provision of safe, sustainable, high-quality healthcare services for its local population, based on the best and most up-to-date clinical evidence and advice.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. Well, I know that there has been an issue, in terms of waiting lists for autism, for a long time in the Hywel Dda area. There are initiatives that are under way, of course, and we've had the capacity review, which has identified exactly what we need to put in place. If you don't mind, what I'd like to do is to ask my colleague, Julie Morgan, who is responsible for autism,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: All children are protected by a combination of screening and immunisations, as well as examinations at birth and six weeks, to promote early detection of abnormalities. For children with serious heart problems, the Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee commissions a comprehensive range of services.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I'm very willing to have a look at what the opportunities are and the benefits of doing that. As I say, I met with the Royal College of Midwives today, and the one thing I'm that I'm very aware of is, if you get it wrong in maternity, the costs are absolutely astronomical. So, it's an investment for us to make sure that we don't get it wrong, because, if we get it wrong,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. On 7 November, I issued a written statement providing an update on the considerable progress achieved by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board in improving its maternity and neonatal services since 2019. The health board maintains focus on delivering further sustainable improvements in leadership, culture and service integration.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I would like to congratulate the staff on the immense amount of work that has gone into turning this department around. It really is quite remarkable; the leadership has been really transformed. And I'd also like to pay tribute to the bravery of the mothers who've really helped us to consider what changes needed to be put in place. So, a huge thank you to them, and it...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Formally.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I want to say at the start that we absolutely recognise why so many nurses have voted for industrial action for the first time in the RCN's history. We believe that nurses, together with other hard-working NHS and public sector workers, should be fairly awarded for their work. Nurses, healthcare professionals, cleaners, porters, paramedics and many other professions...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Yes, I'm happy to give way.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, just to be absolutely clear, the pressures are way above that. This is no underspend this year. Wake up and smell the roses. I'll tell you how much extra I've had to find in terms of cuts this year in the NHS budget. It's cuts. We're way overspent.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: No, I can tell you there is no unallocated funding. I can't go further than that. I can tell you how much over—. I think we can get that information to you.
