Vaughan Gething: It is true, as I acknowledged, that it can take a significant number of referrals, in primary and secondary care, before referral to an appropriate form of treatment for the condition is made. And a diagnosis can be difficult because sometimes the symptoms vary, and can be similar to a range of other conditions. The symptoms can be similar to pain caused by irritable bowel syndrome and pelvic...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, acting Deputy Presiding Officer. I am grateful to Members for tabling this important debate today. As we've heard, endometriosis is a condition that affects a significant number of women. We've also heard about the profound impact it can have on the lives of people affected and their families, with the descriptions of acute and chronic pain, the use of strong analgesics and the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Llywydd. I'll deal at the start with the one point of clarification that Mark Reckless raised about the No. 17 amendment regulations, where we've introduced a general exemption to the restrictions that apply. This means that a single person or a single-parent household can visit one other household within the same county. The point I was making was that it can't be any more than...
Vaughan Gething: Apologies, Llywydd. I am now in a position to introduce the regulations, and thank you for the opportunity to reset and to be able to start, Llywydd. I apologise for the interruption in proceedings.
Vaughan Gething: The regulations before us today that I formally move and ask the Senedd to support are the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) (Amendment) (No. 16) (Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham) Regulations 2020. I'll now refer to them as the relevant amendment regulations. The No. 16 regulations refer to Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham. And I move the...
Vaughan Gething: Unfortunately not. If you could just give me 10 more seconds and I will be able to start. Apologies, Llywydd, it's very—[Interruption.]
Vaughan Gething: Llywydd, apologies. Could I just have one moment before starting the debate? There's just something that I need to deal with where I am. I apologise, but could I have just 30 seconds?
Vaughan Gething: I think that's very important, because I said in my statement that some elements of that had to be paused, but they're really important in terms of giving that reassurance that other Members have looked for as well. And part of this—if we're going to have an honest assessment of it, we can't simply say that, six months in, or 12 months in, we can tick it off the list. Because, actually, the...
Vaughan Gething: I'll deal with the last point first. So, every woman should have a community midwife who can give them direct access to support and guidance for their pregnancy, if they would otherwise have been giving birth in the Tirion birth centre, to explain to them the variety of alternatives that are available. And that's potentially not just within the health board, because I do know that Cwm Taf...
Vaughan Gething: Yes, thank you for the question, and I'm very happy to reiterate that we do need to provide support to women and their families. It will be, as I say, a very difficult experience, and it's not one that I can say that I understand, because I haven't lived through that experience, and it's important to understand that it will be different for different people. People who have suffered loss will...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the variety of questions. I hope that this update is welcomed by women who were previously ignored and did not have their concerns taken seriously. I ordered the independent review by the joint royal colleges on the basis that there was plainly a problem that had not been resolved and could not be satisfactorily resolved if the health board themselves were commissioning a...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions. In terms of the broad picture of maternity services across Wales, the regular assurance that the chief nurse's department undertakes in terms of midwifery services demonstrates that concerns are being dealt with across the service appropriately, and that maternity services are safe. And I hope that's helpful in terms of providing that assurance from the regular...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, Llywydd. I wanted to take the opportunity today to update Members on the progress in improving maternity services and wider quality governance arrangements at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board. I thought it particularly important that I assure everyone that, while we necessarily have to pay so much attention to managing the unfinished COVID pandemic, we have also retained a...
Vaughan Gething: There's no suggestion of that at present. But as I said, that's why I'm seeking the assurance, not just from my officials, but from health boards directly, about the position they find themselves in with this unexpected supply chain interruption. And that's what I will cover in the written statement. Obviously, it would not be acceptable if Wales were hit disproportionately, or in a different...
Vaughan Gething: I discussed this very point with my officials this afternoon, Llywydd, and that's why I'm seeking urgent reassurance from our officials. In terms of the tests that Public Health Wales carry out, including, for example, sexual health testing and cell pathology, they're the things that I'm most concerned about. We do have some stock that is left within Public Health Wales and other health...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. Public Health Wales have confirmed that this issue does not affect their capacity for COVID-19 antigen tests, as Roche swabs are not used, nor will it affect other Public Health Wales tests. In relation to wider health-board-delivered testing services, I have asked my officials to urgently review and report back to me.
Vaughan Gething: On Rhun ap Iorwerth's point about the data underpinning the action that we took, in particular in relation to Cardiff, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Torfaen and the Vale of Glamorgan, we had data at that point in time and a very clear case made to us by each local authority and by each relevant health board that, in those areas, they were confident that, because of the data they saw on the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, acting Presiding Officer. I'll run through the comments as they've been made in the debate. I note the comments that the Chair of the committee, Mick Antoniw, made. We do provide frequently asked questions and guidance to try to assist people with the requirements of the regulations and how to help people to follow the new rules. And, of course, the requirements are because of the...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you, acting Presiding Officer. I formally move the four sets of regulations before us today, and ask Members of the Senedd to support them. These regulations were again introduced under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, through emergency procedures to support our ongoing action to tackle the unfinished coronavirus pandemic. The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions)...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. I'm fortunately drawing to the conclusion of my remarks, and that is that we have learned from the initial six months. We've learned about working closely with local authorities and public health experts on all of the local restriction measures. We've met with local authority leaders regardless of geography and political leadership, and that's a real strength of the position that...
