Angela Burns: I listened to the numbers that you have just laid out for Lynne Neagle. They sound big and they sound great, they sound like there's an awful lot of money, but the reality is: is it enough money for the amount of requirement that there is? One of the concerns I have is about how we are targeting our preventative spend in the health sector. I asked a question along these lines last week to the...
Angela Burns: Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's spending priorities in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire?
Angela Burns: I just wondered if, for the record, it might be worth you just rehearsing what effect you think there might be on the whole scheme if the Medical Defence Union choose not to come forward and what effect that might have on general practitioners.
Angela Burns: Would you take an intervention?
Angela Burns: Thank you for bringing forward a statement on the Bill today, Minister. The Welsh Conservatives will be supporting it. I know that it's very much looked forward to by the medical profession—it's a great step forward. I do want to just echo the comments made by the three Chairs who've spoken, as to why we've had to rush this at the last knockings and why it didn't come forward earlier on...
Angela Burns: Trefnydd, I have two issues that I'd like to bring before you today. I note, from the written statement from Vaughan Gething, the Minister for Health and Social Services, issued today, that he intends to issue a further statement on the governance arrangements in Cwm Taf health board and on the maternity services early next year. I would urge the Government to turn this into a proper debate....
Angela Burns: I'm so pleased to hear your warm words about the importance of maintaining and developing primary care and the importance about it not just being about the GP, but, of course, using all the other allied healthcare professionals that are vital to making community services work. Now, last week, the First Minister said to me at about this point in time, I think, that, 'the health service needs...
Angela Burns: Will the First Minister provide an update on the Welsh Government's plans to tackle Bovine TB?
Angela Burns: I'm pleased that Joyce Watson raised this question, because I do have a number of very serious concerns about this, Minister. I represent an area where illegal dog breeding is rife. I've written to Elin Jones, when she was the Minister, John Griffiths when he was the Minister, Alun Davies when he was the Minister, Rebecca Evans when she was the Minister, and I've also written to you on this...
Angela Burns: Will the Minister make a statement on the support the Welsh Government is providing to farmers in west Wales?
Angela Burns: Thank you, Minister, for your statement today. As you said yourself, this is part of a wider programme. This is the last element in the implementation of the legislation that has been passed previously, and the Welsh Conservatives will support these regulations coming into force. But I would like to just make a couple of points, because for us it is about the wider story, and I would urge you...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Of course, another way of building resilience is to look at the health service in the round. And you will know that, in west Wales, we have struggled to be able to deliver sustainable, resilient health services for the whole of west Wales. And there is a plan to perhaps build a new hospital, and there is continued uncertainty, of course, therefore, over the...
Angela Burns: I'm just really grateful, and I'm glad to hear all that good news; it is supremely positive. But I do want to point out that we have 29 practices at risk which have submitted sustainability applications, and another 29 at risk which are in the pre-application process. So, how does all that good news tie to the fact that we've got practices that are on the verge of closure or are under real...
Angela Burns: Thank you. There are similar shortages, obviously, with endoscopy nurses. I did want to just touch on Caroline Jones's amendment, because we will be abstaining on it. Not because we don't support it, because we absolutely do, but the fundamental issue that we have with access to primary care services is that everything that this Government has done—the parliamentary review, the vision for...
Angela Burns: And, of course, one of the ways of doing that is how we place our medical training places, where we put them and what we tie people into, because it's a recognised fact that if you start to train in a particular area, and you develop your social life there, your network there, you're far more likely to stay. I'm really sorry, I didn't realise I only had three minutes on this.
Angela Burns: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I formally so move those amendments. I'd like to thank Helen Mary Jones for opening this debate, and I think the word or numbers '2030' will forever be emblazoned on my heart after today's series of debates, what with hepatitis C and the diagnosis targets, because you mention about the fact that we need our workforce in place, and the concern we...
Angela Burns: Will you take an intervention?
Angela Burns: Will you take an intervention, or have you finished?
Angela Burns: In many ways, the hepatitis C story in Wales is incredibly optimistic. We have a disease before us, or a condition before us, that is almost entirely curable, and we are within striking distance—if we apply ourselves—to being able to wipe this out. And I think that any illness or condition that we can wipe out—polio being one of them—is something that we should all celebrate, and we...
Angela Burns: I am very pleased to hear you use the word 'now' with great emphasis twice, because I am very concerned about this news. It's yet another failing by the management of Cwm Taf, and I truly feel sorry for the hard-working front-line staff of this health board who, week after week, see the name of the health board being tainted through no fault of their own. I'm also concerned about the...
