Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 2:38 pm on 7 December 2016.
I’m even more delighted to hear you say that. I just want to run past you one particular family, whose 12-month-old twin girls were 28 weeks premature. They’ve both suffered from bronchiolitis on four occasions this season alone, resulting in nine hospital admission days and six separate visits to A&E. These babies have been denied the vaccine as they do not fall within the strict vaccination criteria. However, the constant admission to hospital and having to persistently fight the virus has put a huge strain on the family as well as stunting the babies’ development, particularly one who has got cerebral palsy due to her being so prem. Is it possible for us not just to look at the health boards obeying the guidance issued by the JCVI, but also enable them to be a little bit more lateral in their thinking in such circumstances so that they would look at the overall picture and demonstrate the flexibility allowed to help alleviate the pressure on their hospitals, on NHS finances and on that family, families like them, and those babies? It is £600 per injection compared to nine hospital stays and six visits to A&E. I would have thought that it’s patently obvious.