Caroline Jones: Leanne Wood.
Caroline Jones: First Minister, Wales has some of the lowest cancer survival rates in the developed world, and the main reason is poor detection and early intervention. How will your Government improve diagnosis and treatment, and do you agree with my party that everyone diagnosed with cancer should have a full written care plan?
Caroline Jones: First Minister, for the city region to work most effectively requires greater collaboration amongst the local government partners. Your previous local government reorganisation proposals were at odds with the city region map. Will your new proposals for local government mergers take into account the need for Swansea and Neath Port Talbot to work closer together with Carmarthenshire and...
Caroline Jones: I too would like to offer my congratulations on your appointment, Cabinet Secretary, and thank you for your statement. It is indeed good news that deemed consent created 10 more donors who contributed to half of the transplants in the last six months. Organ donation is the greatest act of generosity and compassion a person can undertake. Sadly, we still have over 200 people waiting for a...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Lywydd. Cabinet Secretary, with one in eight people in Wales currently seeking help for a mental illness, what will the new Welsh Government be doing to improve waiting times for access to mental health care?
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your answer, Cabinet Secretary, but part of the problem with waiting times for mental health care is around funding. Mental health is the poor relation in our NHS. Do you agree with me that mental health funding should be ring-fenced at a much higher level than the current spend?
Caroline Jones: Finally, Cabinet Secretary, cuts to local authority spending are threatening community mental health services. What is your Government doing to incentivise councils in Wales to protect the mental health services they provide, and to make greater use of third sector mental health services?
Caroline Jones: What is the Welsh Government doing to improve access to occupational health services in Wales?
Caroline Jones: Will the Minister outline the Welsh Government's priorities for primary care during this Assembly term?
Caroline Jones: First Minister, as someone who has survived cancer, I can tell you from first-hand experience that early diagnosis is key to survival. GPs are the front line in the fight against cancer, and are critical for early diagnosis. First Minister, Cancer Research UK found that there is a huge variation in GPs’ direct access to diagnostic tests in Wales. What will your Government do over the next...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Lywydd, and thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. The Welsh health survey data once again highlight the need to improve public health messages. Of course, the challenges of increasing levels of obesity are not unique to Wales. However, it’s truly shocking to learn that nearly 60 per cent of Welsh adults are overweight or obese. Cabinet Secretary, with many schools selling...
Caroline Jones: 14. Will the Minister make a statement on the introduction of service charges for social housing tenants? OAQ(5)0011(CC)
Caroline Jones: I was invited and attended a meeting in North Cornelly—thank you for your answer, Cabinet Secretary—however they were concerned that, within their rent, the service charges such as grass cutting and litter picking were included in their rent. They’d recently received from Valleys to Coast the introduced service charges for picking up litter. This has caused much dismay for these...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Lywydd. I would also like to thank Plaid Cymru for bringing forward this very important debate on health and social care. My amendment seeks to add to the debate while not detracting from the overall motion. I believe passionately that cottage or community hospitals are a part of the solution to reducing the burden on our emergency departments, reducing delayed transfers of care and...
Caroline Jones: I welcome the opportunity to take part in this debate. Tomorrow every citizen over the age of 18 from every part of the UK gets to decide whether we remain as part of the European Union or whether we become independent once more. This is democracy. People can decide and they can choose for themselves. It will be of little surprise to anyone that I believe that Wales is better off out. My...
Caroline Jones: No, Huw, because I’m trying to get through something. Is that all right? However, is it right for people living outside of the UK who pay no tax and national insurance to just continue to benefit from our free healthcare service, or should we insist that those living outside the UK should have health insurance? And the biggest threat to our NHS comes from EU directives. In 2011 the EU...
Caroline Jones: ‘The British Medical Journal’ recently warned that the risk to the NHS would be that it could never afford to return a service in-house once it was contracted out, and top QCs have warned that TTIP poses a real and serious risk to future UK Government decision making in respect of the NHS. This means, if we do remain in the EU, it will become harder and harder to keep the NHS in public...
Caroline Jones: First Minister, the most exciting development in the treatment of cancer in recent times has been the development of stratified medicines, where treatment is personalised to the patient based upon the genetic makeup of their particular cancer. I was deeply concerned to learn that, in Wales, we test for just two genetic markers. Will your Government develop a stratified medicine strategy and...
Caroline Jones: 5. Will the First Minister make a statement on GP recruitment in Wales? OAQ(5)0080(FM)
Caroline Jones: Thank you, First Minister. The Royal College of General Practitioners tells us that we need 400 full-time equivalent GPs by 2020 if we are to provide good access for all primary care. It is concerning, therefore, that we are training just over 100 GPs a year in Wales, and just 13 per cent of trainee doctors spend any time in general practice. What will your Government do during the fifth...
